Ministry to ignore Maran's letter

The Home Ministry will not respond to Sun TV Chairman Kalanithi Maran’s letter to minister Rajnath Singh seeking his intervention on refusal of security clearance to his 33 TV channels.

The ministry is of the view that it has already explained the reasons for its decision clearly in its report to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry earlier. A senior ministry official said they would inform the court the reasons for denying the clearance if Sun Group approaches the court.

In his letter, Maran had said that his company was not involved in any anti-national or criminal activity.

The ministry had refused clearance saying such an action would adversely affect the economic security of the country. It had taken into consideration the investigations against Kalanidhi and his brother Dayanidhi, who was former Telecommunications Minister, in 2G spectrum and other cases. The Maran brothers are also facing a CBI probe over allotment of 300 high-speed BSNL telephone lines to the residence of Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai, which were extended to his brother’s channel.

The rejection of the clearance for TV channels came close on the heels of the Home Ministry refusing to give its nod for the Group’s 45 radio channels.