New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Centre for not curbing inflammatory TV programmes. The court said that control over TV news which may have an instigating effect is an important preventive measure to maintain law and order.A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Centre, that there are programmes which have an instigating effect, and the government is doing nothing about it.“Prevention of instigation is an important part of maintaining law and order and the government has done nothing to address these issues,” the court said.The bench made this observation while hearing a batch of pleas concerning media reporting of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.The congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in March 2020 was attended by thousands of Indian and foreign nationals. It was cited as being responsible for spreading coronavirus to different parts of the country.According to NDTV, when the Centre tried to argue that it has stopped telecast in a few cases, the CJI said, “Fact is that there are programmes which has the effect of instigating people. You (the government) do nothing about it. It can happen either way. Instigation can be against either community.”Also read: COVID, Communal Reporting and Centre’s Attempt to Use Independent Media as Alibi for InactionThe pleas filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and others allege that a section of the media was spreading communal hatred over the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s plea sought directions to the Centre to stop the dissemination of “fake news” related to the Nizamuddin congregation and take strict action against those responsible.In November last year, the apex court had expressed displeasure over the Centre’s affidavit in the case and said that the government should consider setting up a regulatory mechanism for TV content. The court had asked the Centre to file a fresh affidavit on the regulation of electronic media under the Cable Television Network Act (CTNA).Mehta told the bench that there are self-regulatory bodies like broadcaster associations in addition to the News Broadcasters Standards Authority (NBSA).Observing that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s affidavit did not deal with the applicability of CTNA, the top court said that the government cannot leave regulation to an agency like NBSA.The bench asked the parties to file their affidavits within three weeks and said the matter will be heard thereafter.According to NDTV, the top court also referred to the internet shutdown in some areas of Delhi on January 26, 2020, during the tractor parade by farmers who were protesting against three new farm laws. “Yesterday, you shut down internet due to farmer’s rally. The focus is not on farmers, but you have shut internet mobile. These are problems that can arise everywhere,” CJI Bobde said.(With PTI inputs)