SC stays Centre’s telecast ban on MediaOne channel, allows to resume broadcast

The Court passed the interim order in a special leave petition filed by the company running the channel assailing the Kerala High Court's judgment of upholding the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to not renew the broadcast license of the channel.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granting interim relief to Malayalam news channel, MediaOne, stayed the Central government decision to revoke the channel’s security clearance. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath ordered that the channel can resume operations in the same manner in which it was being operated before revocation of security clearance, Bar and Bench reported.

“We order and direct that Union Govt order revoking security clearance to Madhyaman Broadcasting Ltd stands stayed. Petitioner be allowed to run MediaOne on the same basis channel was being operated before security clearance was revoked,” the Court said.

The Court passed the interim order in a special leave petition filed by the company running the channel assailing the Kerala High Court's judgment of upholding the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to not renew the broadcast license of the channel.

Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited had applied for broadcast permissions to be renewed from September 30, 2021, to September 29, 2031.

The bench said that a prima facie case was made out for the grant of interim relief for the channel. The channel has been allowed to operate as it used to do before the Centre's decision.

The Union has been asked to file the counter-affidavit by March 26. The bench indicated that it will go into the issue of the tenability of the sealed cover procedure.

Today, the three-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath went through the Home Ministry's files. 

The court noted that the files have not been shared with the petitioner (MediaOne) so far and the question of whether they should be shared for the petitioner to be able to defend themselves shall remain open for discussion in subsequent hearings.