The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to make available the files relating to the revocation of the broadcasting licence of MediaOne TV channel by February 7.
Justice N. Nagaresh, while passing the order, also extended till February 7 its interim order deferring the implementation of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's order revoking the licence of the channel.
When a petition filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, Kozhikode, which owns the channel, came up for hearing, S. Sreekumar, senior counsel for the company, argued that the order was illegal and violative of the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution.
He contended that the channel had been granted permission in 2011 for uplinking and delinking programmes after giving security clearance by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The security clearance was required only when a new channel was going to be started.
In fact, the company sought the renewal of the licence after the expiry of its licence period. The guidelines on the uplinking and delinking of programmes did not stipulate that a fresh security clearance need be obtained when the licence was renewed.
He pointed out that though the Centre had said that the MHA had denied security clearance, it could not say what was the security breach committed by the channel. In fact, the channel had not so far caused any hindrance to or interfered with the security of the nation.
Defending the Centre's action, S. Manu, Assistant Solicitor General, contended that the MHA had denied the security clearance based on various intelligence inputs, which were sensitive and secret in nature. Therefore, as a matter of policy and in the interest of national security, the MHA could not disclose the reasons for the denial of security clearance.
The channel’s licence had been rescinded after due application of the relevant aspects, including the breach of security clearance. He also pointed out that even for the renewal of licence, security clearance from the MHA was mandatory. Besides, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had followed scrupulously all procedures before taking a final call on the issue.
He, therefore, sought to vacate the interim order as the extension of it would defeat the very purpose of the guidelines. He also submitted that all the files relating to the decision to revoke the licence would be produced before the court.
The court, while directing the Centre to make available to the court all the files, made it clear that the interim order would continue to be in force till Monday.
