NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Vikramajit Sen has been appointed the new Chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), the independent self-regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation in June 2011 to examine content-related complaints relating to all non-news general entertainment channels in India.
Justice Sen succeeds former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice, Justice Mukul Mudgal, whose three-year term as BCCC Chairperson has come to an end. The Board of Directors of IBF announced the appointment.
A delegation of the IBF Board, led by the Foundation President. Punit Goenka, and comprising its Directors Aroon Purie, Rajat Sharma, Uday Shankar and I. Venkat, met Justice Sen and invited him to chair the BCCC for the next three years.
Justice Sen, an alumnus of St. Xavier’s School (Delhi) and St. Stephen’s College (Delhi), earned his degree in Law from Faculty of Law, Delhi University. After a long tenure as a Judge of the Delhi High Court, he was appointed Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court and elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India in 2012, an office he served till December 2015.
In his farewell message, Justice Mudgal thanked all members of BCCC and the IBF Board. “Your presence and constant support greatly helped me perform my duties at BCCC. It is very encouraging that over the years, BCCC has evolved into a robust and credible self-regulatory mechanism of global standards,” he said.
In his acceptance message, Justice Sen said, “I am looking forward to this exciting assignment. Independence of the media is extremely important and equally important is the responsibility that comes along with it.”
In his welcome message to the new BCCC Chairperson, Goenka said, “Our Board is confident that Justice Sen’s presence will stimulate the process of adjudicating complaints received from various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, and take forward the process of transparent and impartial decision-making.”
In its six-year-long journey, BCCC, which is a 13-member body, has handled more than 40,000 content-related complaints. The Council’s 67th meeting, under the stewardship of its new Chairperson Justice Vikramajit Sen, will be held in August.
Former Chief Justice of Madras and Delhi high courts and former Chairperson of Law Commission of India, Justice A.P. Shah, was the founding Chairperson of BCCC.
