The High Court on Monday admitted a petition by Cable TV Operators Welfare Association challenging the notification of the ministry of information and broadcasting fixing the cut off date as March 31 for implementation of Digital Addressability System (DAS) for Hyderabad.
Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was dealing with a plea where the petitioner informed the court that the ministry was insisting for implementation of Digital Addressability System without granting licences under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2012 and without giving adequate time for cable operators to acquire the required infrastructure.
The petitioner contended that the action of the ministry was illegal and violative of Article 14 and 19 of the Constitution. The petition urged the court to direct the authorities concerned to give another six months time for implementating DAS.
While admitting the plea, the judge granted two weeks’ time to the respondents to file their counter affidavits.
Directive to APPCB: A division bench of the High Court on Monday directed the AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB) to inform the steps it had taken to deal with alleged pollution by various cement companies in Kadapa district.
The bench comprising acting chief justice N V Ramana and justice Vilas V Afzulpurkar was dealing with a public interest petition filed by K Venkata Subba Reddy, president of Rayalaseema Rashtra Samithi of Kadapa district, seeking for closure of cement companies which have failed to comply with the directions given by the APPCB to run its operations.