Staff Reporter Daily Dawn , Dawn TV Report
Lahore: The Punjab government has decided to bring a new law related to the advertising of government projects and the issuance of advertisements. Under this new law, advertising matters will not be challenged in the courts.
Punjab Information Minister Uzma Bukhari has submitted the draft of the said law to the House.
The current Punjab government has been under criticism in the past due to newspaper advertisements. Especially, the extraordinary advertising campaign of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on the completion of one year of the government was criticized by the opposition.
During the third and second term of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Saqib Nisar, had taken suo motu notice, under which he banned the pictures of political leaders in government advertisements.
The PML-N government is still in the news for its publicity of its projects, especially in Punjab.
Under the new draft law, the government will have full authority to advertise any government project on any platform (TV, newspaper or digital) as it wishes.
Similarly, the government will also have the authority to keep or change the name of any government project.
This law has been named ‘Punjab Public Awareness and Dissemination of Information (Public Awareness and Information Dissemination) Bill 2025’. After being passed by the Punjab Assembly and signed by the Governor, this bill will be converted into an act.
The draft law states that no court, even a civil court, has the authority to hear any issue arising under this act.
‘Similarly, no case can be filed against any government officer or official who has exercised his authority under this law.’
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