MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said no final decision had been taken yet on waiver of the one per cent net collection that is required to be paid by exhibitors to the Films Division under the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.

Soni made the remark when her attention was drawn to the fact that though the Government had won the case in the Supreme Court some years earlier, theatre owners were still reluctant about screening film magazines or documentaries by the Films Division.

Under the scheme, a theatre owner has to screen at least 15 minutes of a social purpose film and pay one per cent of the net collection to the maker of the film.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Devendra Khandelwal said in a letter to the Minister that her decision would prove detrimental for private documentary filmmakers who had pinned their hopes on being able to find exhibition outlets in theatres through revival of the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.

He said this will also force these filmmakers to approach the Films Division which existed on budgetary grants from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and so will not be able to make the kind of films they wanted.