SC issues notice to Centre over ban on MediaOne TV channel; seeks all relevant material

New Delhi, March 10

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre on Malayalam TV news channel MediaOne’s petition against the decision of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to revoke its broadcasting license on the ground of national security.

“We saw the order; they say too many details are not available,” a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud noted while directing the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to produce all relevant material relied upon by it.

The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 15.

On behalf of the petitioner channel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted there was no complaint against the channel for 10 years and there is no requirement for security clearance at the time of renewal of licence. He took strong exception to the Kerala High Court asking for files in a sealed cover after reserving its verdict.

Appearing for MediaOne, another senior counsel Dushyant Dave said the channel had more than 2.5 crore viewers and it was given down-linking permission as late as 2019.

MediaOne has challenged the Kerala High Court’s decision upholding  the Centre’s decision to ban telecast of the Malayalam news channel. The High Court had dismissed the plea of Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd — which runs MediaOne — challenging the Centre’s January 31 decision.

The decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deny security clearance was based on intelligence inputs received from various agencies, the high court had noted.

The Centre had said the MHA denied security clearance over national security concerns based on intelligence inputs.

The channel contended that, according to the up-linking and downlinking guidelines, security clearance from MHA was only required at the time of application for fresh permission and not at the time of renewal of licence.