Kerala HC stays Centre’s order revoking Malayalam channel MediaOne TV’s license; matter to be heard on Feb 2

Soon after the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry revoked the license of Malayalam channel MediaOne TV, the Kerala High Court stayed the operation of the order and deferred it till day after tomorrow. The channel hopes to be back on air in a few hours, stated its editor.

“The implementation of Exhibit P1 (impugned order) shall be deferred till the day after tomorrow,” observed the court in its order.

While posting the matter for February 2, Justice Nagaresh, who heard the case, issued notice to Planetcast Media Services Ltd, the third respondent, and directed the counsel of the Union government to get detailed instructions on the matter and respond with an explanation.

Appearing for the Union government, Additional Solicitor General S Manu vehemently opposed the passing of the interim relief order, contending that it was not an essential service. The court responded to the objection stating that broadcasting should not be disrupted till the case was decided and passed the interim order.

“We are hoping to start airing as soon as the HC order reaches the transmission station. It is only after they get the order that they can technically resume the transmission. It may take a few hours. The court will hear the case now after two days,” explained Pramod Raman, editor, MediaOne.

MediaOne TV had applied for broadcast permissions to be renewed from September 30, 2021 to September 29, 2031. In response to this, the I&B Ministry had stated that the Home Ministry had denied security clearance to Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, which owns the channel. The reason for denial the security clearance was not mentioned in the I&B Ministry’s order.

As a result of the Home Ministry’s denial of security clearance, a show cause notice was served to the company as to why the permission granted to it should not be revoked or cancelled for uplinking or downlinking of the channel.

The company, in response to the show cause notice, mentioned that it was unaware of the grounds for denial of the security clearance and requested the authorities not to initiate any proceedings in the matter.

The I&B Ministry stated that the security clearance of the Home Ministry is based on security parameters. “Since the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied the security clearance, the channel cannot be allowed to operate,” read the order from the I&B Ministry.

“We also do not know why the clearance was denied by the Home Ministry. We do not know exactly what parameters we have violated. We were issued this show cause notice to which we asked the reasons for denial, but the ministry did not give us an explanation. We are running our channel following all the parameters for the last 10 years,” underscored Raman.

The ministry did not accept the response of the company.

MediaOne CEO Roshan Kakkat maintained that they have not violated or breached any security parameters. “We completed most of the renewal processes required and in the midst of this, we got a show cause notice. We received a show cause notice previously too, five years ago. We highlighted that we have followed all the I&B ministry rules and the Cable TV guidelines and we have not breached any guidelines,” said Kakkat.

The channel requested the ministry to bring to its notice which guidelines it had violated, so that corrective measures could be taken. “We requested for an appointment with the ministry too,” added Kakkat.

In March 2020, I&B Minstry had decided to ban MediaOne channel and Asianet for 48 hours for their “biased” coverage of the Delhi riots, stating that their reports sided “towards a particular community”.

The order passed by the Information and Broadcasting ministry stated that both news channels violated Cable Television Network Rules 1994, which state, among other things, "No programme should be carried in the cable service which attack on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which promote communal attitudes".

It also states that no programme should be carried which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes.

Both channels were served showcase notices on February 28, and both defended their reportage stating that they had shown extreme caution in compliance with the rules. They stated that their reports were not contemptuous of any religious groups or communal attitudes.

MediaOne channel had on March 7, 2020 issued a statement on the order. “This is a blatant attack against free and fair reporting. The ministry order mentioned that our reporting has violated Cable TV Act. This is nothing but an order to stop free and fair journalism. MediaOne will fight legally against this unprecedented and undemocratic action imposed by Information and Broadcasting Ministry,” wrote CL Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of MediaOne TV.