A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by the MediaOne TV channel against a single judge's judgment upholding an order of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting revoking the broadcasting licence of the channel.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chali reserved its judgment after the conclusion of the arguments by senior Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant Dava for Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, Kozhikode, which owns the channel, and Additional Solicitor General of India at the Supreme Court Aman Lekhi.
The single judge had dismissed a writ petition challenging the Centre’s order, holding that the inputs given by the intelligence agencies against the company were of serious nature and fell under the security rating parameters. It was held by the single judge that the recommendations of the committee of officers in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), based on the inputs of the intelligence agencies, were justified by supporting materials.
The company in its appeal contended that the charge of threat to national security had been a ruse to cancel the licence of the channel, which did not have any basis at all. There was haste to cancel the licence as if there was "some pre-scripted agenda motivated by some ill-will".
It was victimised for its fair and genuine news reporting. The company also contended that it had never broadcasted any programme which could be termed as anti-national. In fact, the reliability of the intelligence report was suspect. The recommendations of the committee was unconstitutional as it gave its opinion without even affording the channel any opportunity of being heard, it said.
