BREAKING: [MediaOne Ban] Kerala High Court Reserves Order On Appeal

The Kerala High Court on Thursday reserved its orders in the appeal moved by Malayalam news channel MediaOne against the single judge order upholding the recent ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.A Division Bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chaly heard the matter at length today. When the matter was taken up, ASGI Aman Lekhi had sought time to produce certain documents in a sealed cover and to file a counter in the matter.However, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for the channel objected to this and argued that this was immaterial. After a brief discussion, the Court permitted the senior counsel to present his arguments.The appellants emphasised the freedom of the press and its ambit under Article 19(1) of the Constitution through several decisions. On the other hand, the ASG vehemently opposed the contentions and defended the single judge decision. The Court prima facie opined that from a bare reading of the provisions it seemed that revocation was a penalty. It added that the process of obtaining a security clearance seemed to be prescribed only for obtaining the licence in the first instance and not for renewal.However, the ASG argued that the guidelines must be read as a whole and with its intent in mind.On January 31, a few hours after the Ministry suspended the channel's telecast citing security concerns, MediaOne had approached the Single Judge with a plea. The channel owned by Jamaat-e-Islami went off the air on the same day.However, upon hearing the preliminary arguments set out by both sides, the Judge granted the channel an interim relief allowing it to telecast, which was extended on two occasions till yesterday.Nevertheless, while delivering the judgment, Justice N. Nagaresh held that after perusing the files from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, it has found intelligence inputs that justify the denial of security clearance to the channel.In the appeal filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd (the company running the channel), it has been pointed out that under the camouflage of national security, the Ministry has prohibited the broadcasting of a news channel that has been in existence for more than a decade.Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court judgment in Manoharlal Sharma Vs. Union of India(Pegasus case) where it was held that the scope of judicial review in matters pertaining to national security is limited, however, it does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised.The appeal filed through Advocate Rakesh K also says that their crucial argument before the Single Judge was that at the time of renewal of broadcasting license, no fresh security clearance is required as the relevant provisions are Section 10 of the uplinking policy guidelines and Section 9 of the downlinking guidelines.However, MediaOne has alleged that this aspect was not seriously considered by the Single Judge while passing the impugned judgment.Case Title: Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited v. Union of India

BREAKING: [MediaOne Ban] Kerala High Court Reserves Order On Appeal

Hannah M Varghese

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