Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), J&K, Shailendra Kumar today chaired the maiden meeting of the State Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (SLMCMC) and deliberated on the matters related to the functioning and mandate of the Committee.Director Information & Public Relations, Gulzar Ahmed Dar, General Manager, BSNL, J&K, Kulbushan Sharma, Additional CEO, Rakesh Kumar Srangal, Deputy Director Information, Jammu, Minakshi Vaid and representative of PIB attended the meeting.The CEO impressed upon the Members to work in close coordination with the Members of District Level Media Certification Monitoring Committees (DLMCMCs) which have been constituted in each district under the chairmanship of concerned District Election Officer (Deputy Commissioner) and Media Certification Monitoring Committee in the office of the CEO and discharge their functioning as per the ambit and scope and guidelines laid down by the Election Commission of India. He urged them to frequently interact with the Members of the above referred Committees and monitor the feedback so received from them for timely and appropriate disposal by the SLMCMC.Explaining the role and responsibilities of the Committee, the CEO informed that SLMCMC constituted under the chairmanship of CEO, J&K has the mandate to decide appeal (s) from both district and Additional/Joint CEO Committees on Certification of Advertisements as per the directions of the Election Commission, to examine all cases of Paid News on appeal against the decision of district MCMC or cases that they may take up suo-moto, in which case it shall direct the concerned ROs to issue notices to the candidates. The appeal(s) both from District and Additional/Joint CEO Committees will lie only with and shall be disposed of by the SLMCMC as per the Commission’s order dated 15th April, 2004 without any reference to the Commission.Similarly, the DLMCMCs shall have the responsibility to certify the advertisements in print, electronic and social media, for which two specific Members viz; Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer are empowered to consider and decide on such advertisements for certification. Besides, the Committee shall examine the complaints/issues of Paid News etc through a monitoring mechanism, said the CEO.The MCMC constituted in the office of the CEO headed by Additional CEO shall entertain applications for certification of advertisements on television channels and cable network by the all registered Political Parties, organizations or group of persons or associations having their registered offices in the State, the CEO informed.