The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) has been abolished by the Ministry of Law and Justice in India, as reported by Film Information. This means that producers aggrieved by the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) will now have to approach the high court instead of the FCAT for the redressal of their grievances.

The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) is a statutory body that was constituted in 1983 to hear appeals of filmmakers aggrieved by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) orders. With this important role, it had gone on to play a monumental role in Indian cinema, pushing out a number of films that were denied release by the CBFC.

In the recent past, filmmakers like Alankrita Shrivastava, Anurag Kashyap, Kushan Nandy and others had approached the FCAT on occasions when the CBFC had refused to certify the release of their films.

Several film personalities like Hansal Mehta, Vishal Bharadwaj, Guneet Monga, and Richa Chadha have heavily criticised the Centre’s move of dissolving the FCAT on their social media platforms.

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