Malayalam channel MediaOne TV set to appeal in SC after Kerala HC refuses to set aside ban on telecast

Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV will be filing an appeal in the Supreme Court as the Kerala High Court has dismissed the appeal on February 2, 2022, by the channel against the ban imposed on its telecast by the union government citing ‘national security’.

“We will be approaching the Supreme Court on Thursday after the order comes out later. Our appeal will be based on the order,” said Pramod Raman, editor of MediaOne channel.

The channel has not been telecasting since February 8, 2022, and the division bench did not grant any interim relief.

The Division Bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Justices S Manikumar and Shaji P Chaly had dismissed the appeal filed by the company against the single judge’s judgment upholding the restriction on the telecast of the channel.

Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, which runs MediaOne TV, had approached the division bench. In its appeal, the company contended that the reason of ‘national security’ was only a ruse and without any basis. It had also argued that no fresh security clearance was required under the relevant provisions of the uplinking and downlinking guidelines for renewal of license.

A single-judge bench of Justice N Nagaresh had on February 8, 2022, upheld the ban imposed by the Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry. The court observed that there were sufficient grounds for denying permission for renewal of the channel’s broadcasting licence.

The I&B Ministry did not renew the transmission licence of the channel after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refused to give security clearance to the channel stating ‘security reasons’. Both the ministries did not clarify what the ‘security reasons’ were.

“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 nation’s unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty and protection of life and liberty of individuals,” stated justice Nagaresh in the judgment.

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.

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”.