NEW DELHI: The Press Council of India (PCI) report on media in Bihar has raised a major political storm, with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley alleging that PCI Chairman Justice Markandey Katju was targeting non-Congress ruled states and the latter denying these charges and action taken in Congress-ruled states.

Both of them have demanded each other?s resignation, with Justice Katji saying Jaitley "is unfit for politics."

In an article on the BJP website, Jaitley had written that Justice Katju?s attacks on non-Congress state governments seem like "a thanksgiving to those who gave him a post-retirement job."

"His utterances, both during his tenure as a Judge and thereafter, are clearly outlandish. Dignified comment is alien to him. His attacks on non-Congress governments whether in West Bengal, Bihar or Gujarat seem more in the nature of thanks-giving to those who provided him with a post retirement job," Jaitley wrote in an article titled, ?Why Justice Markandey Katju must quit as the Chairman of the Press Council of India?.

Justice Katju has said the BJP leader "has presented half-truths and has gone down to a very low level in personal attacks," adding, "I have criticised Maharashtra Chief Minister when the Facebook girl was arrested. I issued a statement when the Himachal Chief Minister threatened a media person, saying his camera will be broken. So I have criticised Congress governments also." He also referred to his statement when the police attacked demonstrators in Delhi against the gang-rape, and the recent detention of senior mediaperson Ifthikar Gilani.

In his article, Jaitley had also said that Justice Katju?s article in a newspaper against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi read more like a "personal tirade".

"Justice Markandey Katju has failed every test on which a Judge whether sitting or retired could be judged. The choice of his subjects and targets is motivated by his political preferences," he had written.

The Congress party has also attacked Jaitley for his views, particularly the comments about Justice Katju?s remarks about Modi.

In its report, the PCI had strongly criticised the Bihar Government, accusing it of arm-twisting the media through various means. It compared the situation in Bihar with Emergency when a complete censorship was imposed on the media.

?The media in Bihar has been gagged and newspapers have become mouthpiece of the government,? said the recently-released report of the PCI on the state of media in Bihar.

Last year on 25 February, Justice Katju constituted a three-member fact-finding team to look into the complaints by some journalists and also people from civil society that the media was not working objectively in the state. The team recently submitted its report to the PCI.

?Journalists in the state are now gagged, muted and handicapped. The newspapers either avoid publication of news related to crime, ransom, land grabbing by the leaders of the ruling establishment or their supporters, murders, and the activities of the land mafia, or they are underplayed and published in brief as small news items,? the report said.

Likening the situation to that of Emergency, the report stated: ?Free and fair journalism in Bihar is facing a situation of censorship, the likes of which were seen during the Emergency in our country.?

MUMBAI: The ongoing controversies might just be the beginning of trouble for Indian Premier League as the union sports ministry has sought an enquiry into alleged wrongdoing in the cash-rich league.

While speaking in Lok Sabha, sports minister Ajay Maken revealed that the Sports secretary has written a letter to Revenue Secretary last week and has sought a thorough probe by Enforcement Directorate as well as Income Tax department.

He also told the House that Finance Ministry has issued 19 notices to BCCI on alleged foreign exchange violations to the tune of Rs 10.77 billion relating to the IPL.

Sports ministry joint secretary had also written a letter to ED on 17 May seeking speedy probe into the matter, Maken added.

The sports minister, who had failed in his earlier attempts to bring BCCI under National Sports Bill, also made a renewed call to bring BCCI under Right to Information.

Former cricketer and Bhartiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad had vociferously raised the IPL issue in parliament by making a strong pitch for a special audit of the controversy ridden tournament. Azad was supported by other parties including JD (U) and Left members in his tirade against IPL besides his own party BJP.

The IPL has been in line of fire from the political class ever since Hindi news channel India TV carried a sting operation which brought to light the ?murky? dealings between players and the franchises. The sting also brought to fore the fact that IPL players, particularly the lesser known ones, were susceptible to match fixing.

The IPL Governing Council handed out suspension orders to Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, T.P. Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali.

The matter is already being probed by newly formed anti-corruption unit of BCCI headed by Ravi Sawani, the former chief of ICC?s Anti-Corruption Unit.

NEW DELHI: A motion was moved in the Rajya Sabha by an opposition member for removing objectionable content from Indian websites and for annulment of government rules aimed at regulating Internet content.

The motion was moved by Marxist member P Rajeeve who demanded that the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 are ultra vires of the provisions of the parent IT Act and violate the freedom of speech and expression.

He said the rules should be done away with and noted that Parliament had powers to intervene in matters of subordinate legislations like this and asked the government to bring the required amendments instead of bringing such rules.

Rajeeve was supported by several members, including Bharatiya Janata Party?s Arun Jaitley who said it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to defy technology and said the days of withholding information have gone.

Congress member E M S Natchiappan pointed out that the House Committee on Subordinate Legislations could look into such matters.

The IT Rules of 2011 stipulate that websites "cannot host information that is a grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever, harm minors or infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right."