Supreme Court Declines To Entertain Sakshi TV's Plea Alleging Blocking By Andhra Pradesh Authorities; Leaves Issues Open Before TDSAT

The Supreme Court today declined to entertain a writ petition filed by news channel Sakshi TV alleging that its broadcast was blocked across Andhra Pradesh, after noting that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) will hear the matter on 12th February.A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe stated in the order, “The Tribunal has taken up the matter for hearing. In this view of the matter we are not inclined to entertain the Article 32 petition at this stage. We would however keep all questions open to the petitioner for being raised and contested before the Tribunal.”Justice Narasimha said that it would not be proper to continue the proceedings under Article 32 of the Constitution once the Tribunal's jurisdiction has been invoked.At the outset, the Court was informed that pursuant to its order in the previous hearing, the matter before TDSAT is now listed on the 12th of this month. In the last hearing, the Court had permitted Sakshi TV to request the Tribunal to advance the hearing of its case.The petitioner's counsel submitted that the case before the Supreme Court was much wider, but Justice Narasimha pointed out that the petitioner could approach the Supreme Court again if aggrieved by Tribunal and High Court orders. “We will just close this. The TDSAT and then there will be a High Court appeal. You can come back. Our endeavour was to ensure that you get that remedy. It will not be proper to continue the same matter here after the tribunal's jurisdiction is invoked”, he said.The writ petition was filed by Sakshi TV alleging that its transmission had been blocked across Andhra Pradesh at the behest of the State authorities following the 2024 Assembly election results. The channel has alleged that Multi System Operators stopped transmitting its signal without any formal order, leading to a near-complete blackout. It sought restoration of transmission on a bouquet basis as it existed on June 3, 2024, and other reliefs.On December 09, 2025, the while dealing with the petition, the Supreme Court had criticised the state of media reportage in the country. The Court had also questioned how it could interfere in the absence of a formal blocking order. The Court while noting that such disputes routinely come before the Tribunal, had allowed Sakshi TV to seek an advance hearing before the TDSAT.The State of Andhra Pradesh has maintained that there is no government order directing disconnection and that the issue is a private dispute. The petitioner has contended that the disconnections were carried out at the behest of the State despite the absence of any formal directive and that the actions violated Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.Case no. – Writ Petition (Civil) No. 739/2025Case Title – M/S. Indira Television Limited & Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Declines To Entertain Sakshi TV's Plea Alleging Blocking By Andhra Pradesh Authorities; Leaves Issues Open Before TDSAT

Amisha Shrivastava

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