NEW DELHI: The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has set up a panel to examine issues of film certification under the Cinematograph Act 1952 following the controversy over the ban on Kamal Haasan?s Vishwaroopam in Tamil Nadu.

The panel will also consider if there is a requirement of special categories of certification for the purpose of broadcasting on television channels and radio stations.

Retired Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal has been named as the head of the panel.

The members of the panel are Film Certification Tribunal chairperson Lalit Bhasin, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson Leela Samson, former CBFC chairperson Sharmila Tagore, renowned writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce Secretary L Suresh, and Supreme Court advocate Rameeza Hakim. I&B joint secretary (films) Raghvendra Singh is the convenor of the panel.

The panel has to submit its report in two months.

The Terms of Reference of the Committee are:

I) Review the mandate and functioning of CBFC and recommend measures including statutory changes to enable CBFC to deal with contemporary requirements of certification and increased transparency / efficiency. Such issues, inter alia, may include :

a) The process of certification under the Act and Rules, including the mechanism followed by the Examining and Revising Committees;

b) Categories of certification, existing and proposed, under the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2013;

c) Requirement of special categories of certification for the purposes of broadcasting on television channels and radio stations.

II) To review the mandate and functioning of Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) in order to make it a more efficacious appellate body;

III) Examine the role of Central Government regarding sanctioning of cinematograph films for exhibition under Entry 60, List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India vis-?-vis Entry 33, List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India;

IV) To suggest more effective legal remedies and penal provisions in the Act, particularly with reference to making unlawful copies, camcording in cinema halls, interpolation/insertion of clips after certification and such similar issues; and

V) Any other issues that the panel may deem fit to deliberate upon.