SC stays Centre's order, allows Malayalam TV channel MediaOne to resume telecast

New Delhi, March 15

The Supreme Court today allowed Malayalam TV channel MediaOne to resume its telecast as it stayed the Centre’s decision to revoke the news channel’s security clearance.

“We order and direct that the Union Government order revoking security clearance to Madhyaman Broadcasting Limited stands stayed. The petitioner is allowed to run MediaOne on the same basis the channel was being operated before security clearance was revoked,” a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud said. The Bench had on March 10 issued notice to the Centre on the TV news channel’s petition against the decision of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to revoke its broadcasting licence on the ground of national security. “We saw the order; they say too many details are not available,” it had noted while directing the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to produce all relevant material relied upon by it.

On Tuesday, the Bench asked the Centre to respond to the petition and it kept the issue disclosing adverse intelligence inputs against the TV channel open for final disposal.

The order came on MediaOne’s petition challenging the Kerala High Court’s decision upholding the Centre’s decision to ban telecast of the Malayalam news channel. —