Press Council laws passed – Rs. 0ne lakh to register a website ; Rs.50000/- for renewal
(Lanka-e-News-13.July.2012, 11.30PM) Mass media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella , addressing the media briefing at the Govt. information Dept. yesterday (12) to convey the Cabinet decisions said, the Press Council enactment which had been in existence in the country has been amended and the Cabinet approval has been obtained , whereby websites can again be registered.
Under the new law , it has been decided that all websites that were registered with the Mass media Ministry shall be registered again.
To register a new website , a fee of Rs. One lakh shall be paid, and to renew an already registered website the annual fee is Rs. 50,000/- , based on the Govt. decision. The licenses issued to Broadcasting and television channels have to be renewed annually by payment of a fee.
By this new requirement to renew the licenses annually , it has been made possible for the govt. to keep them under its influence . If they go exceed the Govt.’s control , the permission to grant license for the following year will be stopped. Until now , the renewal of licenses did not apply to print media. Though attempts were made to introduce this fee to the print media , because of the opposition to it, this was stalled .The license renewal had been introduced for websites because the govt. desires to have them under its control and influence unofficially forever.
Sorry to say, the whole Cabinet which raised its hands to pass these new obnoxious laws in parliament are no doubt going to incur the displeasure and wrath of the public sooner or later
(Lanka-e-News-13.July.2012, 11.30PM) Mass media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella , addressing the media briefing at the Govt. information Dept. yesterday (12) to convey the Cabinet decisions said, the Press Council enactment which had been in existence in the country has been amended and the Cabinet approval has been obtained , whereby websites can again be registered.Under the new law , it has been decided that all websites that were registered with the Mass media Ministry shall be registered again.
To register a new website , a fee of Rs. One lakh shall be paid, and to renew an already registered website the annual fee is Rs. 50,000/- , based on the Govt. decision. The licenses issued to Broadcasting and television channels have to be renewed annually by payment of a fee.
By this new requirement to renew the licenses annually , it has been made possible for the govt. to keep them under its influence . If they go exceed the Govt.’s control , the permission to grant license for the following year will be stopped. Until now , the renewal of licenses did not apply to print media. Though attempts were made to introduce this fee to the print media , because of the opposition to it, this was stalled .The license renewal had been introduced for websites because the govt. desires to have them under its control and influence unofficially forever.
Sorry to say, the whole Cabinet which raised its hands to pass these new obnoxious laws in parliament are no doubt going to incur the displeasure and wrath of the public sooner or later
