The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that playing national anthem in cinema halls is not compulsory.The Supreme Court decision comes a day after the Central government asked the Supreme Court to put on hold it's December 2016 order making mandatory the playing of the national anthem in cinema halls and the audience to stand up during its rendition.The government had on yesterday told the court that it has made an inter-ministerial committee for framing guidelines describing occasions and circumstances in which the national anthem is to be played or sung and the observance of proper decorum, it said that it would require extensive discussions on wide-ranging issues.

Telling the court that the committee has been asked to submit a report with its praise in six months, the Center had urged the top court to put on hold its direction vis-a-vis playing of the national anthem in cinema halls.The government stand came as a total somersault of its previous stand on the issue. The Supreme Court had on October 23 asked the government to consider revising the national flag code for regulating the playing of the national anthem in cinema halls across the country.