The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre on a writ petition filed by actor Amol Palekar seeking to quash the provisions of the Cinematograph Act which empowers the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to demand “unreasonable” cuts in films before they grant certification.

A bench headed by Justice A.K. Sikri issued a notice to the Centre on the petition which alleged that imposing cuts in films amounted to pre-censorship, which is an unreasonable restriction, and demanded that all restrictions on artisfic freedom be lifted.

He sought a declaration that the present CBFC was incompetent to carry out functions under the said act. He also prayed for quashing the guidelines for film certification as they are abstract, vague and imprecise, leading to rampant, erratic and subjective interpretations of scenes/language in a film amounting to unfair curtailment of the filmmakers freedom of expression.