Watchdog asks High Court to get missing IBA forums staffed

Movement for Quality Government files petition with High Court of Justice for order nisi against president, prime minister.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
IBA 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
IBA 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Movement for Quality Government has filed a petition with the High Court of Justice for an order nisi against the president and prime minister asking them to explain why the process of appointing a plenum and executive board for the Israel Broadcasting Authority has not been implemented.
Although the conditions under which these two bodies that govern the IBA should be appointed are specified in law, nothing has been done to correct the lacuna, and the IBA has been without either body since June 2009, exacerbating the crisis situation at the IBA, say attorneys Eliad Shraga and Tzuria Louzon, representing the Movement for Quality Government.
Without these institutions, the IBA is unable to function as it should because decisions about its future depend on approval by both the plenum and the executive board.
The petition says that no objections have been lodged against any ofthe candidates for the plenum, and this being the case, there is noexcuse for the failure to appoint a plenum and a new IBA chairman.
The Movement for Quality Government has also asked the court to issuean interim order that will prevent the IBA from taking any measuresthat require the approval of the executive board and/or the plenum,until these bodies are appointed.
The petition underscores that the IBA is a public body financed by thepublic (through license fees), and that it is therefore incumbent uponPresident Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to rectifythe situation, because the absence these institutions constitutes abreach of law.