Breaking: No Interim Relief For MediaOne From Supreme Court- Notice Issued, Files Called For

The Bench of Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath has issued notice on the appeal filed by Malayalam news channel MediaOne, while fixing the hearing of the interim application on 15 March. The Bench refused to pass any interim order and has directed the centre to produce all files on the next hearing.

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Dushyant Dave appeared for MediaOne.

Mukul Rohatgi submitted that the direction of the Division Bench to summon the file from the Home Ministry after the appeal was reserved for judgment was in violation of Article 19(1)(a).

"We had an interim order from the Single Judge, but the Division Bench heard the appeal and decided on the same day. Give us interim order, let us start", Rohatgi submitted.

Rohatgi also submitted that the channel has hundreds of employees and 2.5 crore viewers.

The Bench resued to pass any interim order. It issued notice and called for all the files to be produced on 15 March, on which day, the interim application of the appellant will be considered.

Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd., the company that owns the Malayalam news channel MediaOne had filed an appeal against the Judgment of the Division Bench of Kerala High Court dismissing their appeal against the Single Judge's Judgment upholding the restriction on the telecast of the channel.

The appeal was mentioned by Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave before the Bench of the Chief Justice on Monday, and the matter was directed to be listed before the appropriate bench today.

The licence for telecasting MediaOne was due to expire on 29th September 2021 when the channel applied for renewal of the licence on 30th May 2021 and was served with a show-cause notice for revoking permission and later on 31st January 2022 an order revoking the permission was passed on the grounds of national security and public order.

The channel filed a writ petition before a Single Judge of the Kerala High Court and obtained an interim order permitting them to continue telecast. However, the Bench dismissed the writ petition after calling for and perusing the files of the Home Ministry.

"I have perused the files. It emerges from the files that the MHA had called for inputs from intelligence agencies. The files contained paginated documents, conclusions of the Committee of Officers and other responsible officers of the MHA and the Guidelines for assessment of proposal received in the MHA for National Security Clearances. National Security covers preservation of nations unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty and protection of life and liberty of individuals. The Information and Broadcasting is a sensitive sector", the single judge had held.

The appeal filed by the Channel before the Division Bench of the High Court was also dismissed. The Division Bench had held after perusing the files of the Home Ministry that there are "certain serious adverse reports by the Intelligence Bureau against M/s.Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited and its Managing Director."

Against the said order, the channel had approached the Supreme Court, inter alia, contending that direction of the Division Bench to produce the files relating to the application of the channel for renewal of its license was passed behind its back.