MediaOne ban case: Court allows channel to resume broadcast till further orders.
new Delhi:
In a relief to Malayalam TV channel ‘MediaOne’, the Supreme Court today stayed the Centre’s January 31 order banning the broadcast of the news channel due to security reasons. The court has allowed the channel to resume broadcasting till further orders.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had refused to renew the broadcasting license of a Malayalam TV channel Without disclosing the exact grounds, citing national security reasons.
Madhyam Broadcasting Limited, which runs the channel, had appealed in the Supreme Court against the Kerala High Court order upholding the Centre’s decision.
The Supreme Court had on March 10 issued notice on the channel’s plea and also asked the Center to produce files relating to the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding security concerns.
A three-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath today perused the files of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The court said that the files have not been shared with the petitioner (Media One) so far and the question whether they should be shared for the petitioner to be able to defend himself, will remain open for discussion in the subsequent hearing. .
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for MediaOne, told the court, “For six weeks, we have been locked down only because it is run by people from the minority community.” The channel is supported by the Kerala chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami.
The top court asked the Center to file a detailed counter-affidavit by March 26 on the appeal filed by the channel against the High Court order.
In the last hearing held on March 7, Dushyant Dave had argued that the channel has worked for 11 years. “We have 350 employees and lakhs of visitors. We have been locked up because of some secret files of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Kerala High Court has justified it behind our backs,” he said.
Mr Dave had said that it has raised questions on the Right to Information (RTI) and freedom of the media.
The Kerala High Court, in its order, had said, “Certain aspects relating to the security of the State are mentioned to the effect that Madhyamma Broadcasting Limited has links with certain undesirable forces, which are said to be a security threat.”