MediaOne: SC stays ban, orders Centre to permit telecast of stories

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the telecast ban  on Malayalam channel MediaOne imposed by the Union authorities citing safety causes. The apex court docket handed the interim order after perusing the information relied on by the federal government to revoke the safety clearance of the channel.MediaOne Editor Pramod Raman mentioned they are going to renew telecasting instantly.

A 3-judge bench of the apex court docket handed the order on a particular go away petition filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, which runs the channel, difficult the Kerala High Court’s order upholding the choice of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to not grant safety clearance to MediaOne “on the basis of intelligence inputs which are sensitive and secretive in nature”. 

The bench, comprising Justice Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath, took a brief break to peruse the contents of the information cited by the federal government, and noticed “we are of the view that the case of grant of interim relief has been made out.”

“We order and direct that Union government order revoking security clearance of Madhyaman Broadcasting Limited stands stayed pending further orders. The petitioners shall be permitted to continue operating the news and current affairs channel MediaOne on the same basis as the channel was being operated prior to the revocation of clearance.”The court docket requested the Union authorities to file its counter affidavit by March 26.

The query regarding disclosing the contents of the information that led to revocation will probably be saved open, the bench mentioned.A division bench of the Kerala High Court had earlier dismissed an attraction filed by MediaOne channel towards a single choose order upholding the I&B Ministry’s motion of revoking license of the channel and eradicating its identify from the listing of permitted broadcasters. “There are certain aspects affecting the public order or the security of the State on the basis of the report of the Intelligence Bureau and other investigating agencies,” the HC bench had noticed.

The Union authorities had suspended the channel’s airing on 31 January.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the decision. Our nation considers freedom of expression as paramount. This verdict of the Supreme Court upholds that,” he mentioned talking at a public operate in Thiruvananthapuram.Pramod Raman tweeted, “Supreme Court stays the telecast ban. We will renew telecasting soon. Justice.”