Extending its interim stay on the Karnataka High Court order restraining Power TV, the Supreme Court has sought details from the Centre on the number of channels which were shut down for not renewing their licence in the last three years, LiveLaw reported.
“How many other stations who have applied for licences have been directed to shut down in the meantime?...how many such cases they ask them to shut down pending the renewal?” asked the bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, according to LiveLaw.
Noting that it “looks like a plain case of political vendetta”, the Supreme Court had granted interim relief to Kannada news channel Power TV and its affiliate Mitcoin Infrastructure by vacating an interim stay on the channel’s broadcasts.
Power TV was at the forefront of reporting sexual abuse allegations against suspended JDS leader Prajwal Revanna and his brother Suraj Revanna.
The high court order had come after allegations that the channel did not hold an active licence to broadcast content. The Centre had also issued a show-cause notice in February this year.
But Power TV claimed that it was targeted for a segment on April 25 this year which exposed the Prajwal Revanna case. It claimed that CEO Rakesh Shetty received a call on April 25 from Prajwal Revanna’s father, HD Revanna, who assured that all issues being faced by the channel would be resolved if it takes down its broadcast. It also claimed that an officer attached to Union minister Prahlad Joshi called Shetty two days later to threaten that the channel would face serious problems if it did not take down its broadcast.
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