NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a petition pertaining to the ban on Malayalam news channel MediaOne by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The I&B Ministry had declined to grant clearances to the channel citing security reasons. The news channel had challenged the Kerala High Court's order of upholding the Centre's order.
The Supreme Court on March 15 had passed an interim order staying the telecast ban imposed on MediaOne by the Central government.
The apex court had passed the interim order after perusing the files relied on by the Union government to ban the channel.
The Central government has sought a time of four weeks to file the counter affidavit. The court adjourned the matter after the Union government circulated a letter on April 6 citing discussions over the counter affidavit at a 'senior level' which would require some time.
The court had asked the Centre to file its counter affidavit by 26 March. The next date of hearing is on May 4.
"We are of the view that the case of grant of interim relief has been made out. We order and direct that the Union Govt order revoking the security clearance of Madhyaman Broadcasting Limited stands stayed pending further orders. The petitioners shall be permitted to continue operating the news and & current affairs channel Media One on the same basis as the channel was being operated prior to the revocation of clearance," the apex court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud had said.
The Kerala High court had upheld the Union government's order on 9 February. The high court had also dismissed the appeal filed by MediaOne TV channel against the single judge's judgment upholding the order of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) revoking the license of the channel and removing the name of the channel from the list of the permitted broadcasters.
The Union government had suspended the channel’s airing on January, 31, 2022.