Recommendation submitted to close down Maldives Media Council

A case has been submitted to the Parliament by its Finance Committee proposing the closing down of Maldives Media Council. The Council was set up specifically for the regulation of print media.

After studying the Media Council’s Audit report of 2010, the Finance Committee decided that the Council does not fulfill its purpose and recommended that it should be dissolved.

“As the Maldives Media Council has not achieved its objectives as defined by the Council regulations, a recommendation is made to the Parliament to dissolve the Maldives Media Council,” says the nine-page document.

Among reasons for dissolving the Council in the report compiled by the Finance Committee on 29 November 2011, they point out that members of the Media Council received living allowance even though this was not included in the Council’s salary system approved for 2010. The Finance Committee also cited the Audit Report and said that the Council had not fulfilled the requirement that regulations must be drawn up within six months of the establishment of the Council.

The Finance Committee further referred to the Audit report and indicated that the Council had not fulfilled their responsibilities and tasks in the best possible manner.

The Finance Committee also recommended that the Media Council’s responsibilities relating to regulating the media be transferred to the Maldives Broadcasting Commission.