MediaOne TV channel case to be heard in Supreme Court on Thursday

The Supreme Court will, on Thursday, March 10, hear the appeal filed by Malayalam news channel MediaOne against the Kerala High Court order upholding the government’s decision to not renew its broadcasting licence on the grounds of “national security and public order”.

Appearing for Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, which owns MediaOne TV channel, senior advocate Dushyant Dave submitted that the channel was shutdown on the basis of some secret files from the Home Ministry. “It's too serious a matter relating to right to information and freedom of press. The Home Ministry and the court justified it behind our back,” Dave stated in the special leave petition. The channel has been broadcasting for 11 years and they have more than 350 employees.

MediaOne approached the Supreme Court on March 2, after the Kerala High Court had dismissed the appeal. 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.