Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on Malayalam news channel's plea against ban

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Centre on a plea from Malayalam news channel 'Media One' against the Kerala High Court's order, which upheld the Centre's decision not to renew its telecast licence on the grounds of national security.

A bench presided over by Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the Union government to place on record the internal files that were produced before the High Court.

The top court put the matter for consideration on March 15.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Dushyant Dave, appearing for the news channel, questioned the validity of the High Court's order and said it relied upon the internal files after reserving the judgement in the matter.

Rohatgi said the channel had 2.5 crore viewers and it had run successfully for more than 10 years without any issues. Several hundred of its employees had become unemployed due to the decision, he said.

Dave said there was a complete violation of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution in the decision.

The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath, said it would consider an interim prayer to resume the services of the channel on March 15, as the counsel had pressed for it.

Media One, which reportedly has the support of the Kerala chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami, approached the top court after the Kerala High Court on March 2 upheld the ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Jan. 31.

Where certain issues with respect to the security of the state are concerned, the government is at liberty to decline to renew the permission granted, without disclosing the complete reasons for non-renewal of the licence, the division bench had said.

The HC had then dismissed the appeals filed by the channel's management and journalists against the Feb. 9 order by the single bench, which refused to lift the ban.

The channel run by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited had earlier faced a 48-hour ban in connection with its reporting on the Delhi riots in 2020

Check out DH's latest videos: