In a major setback to the makers of the Tamil film, 'Jana Nayagan' produced by KVN Production, the Supreme Court on Thursday in its order dismissed its plea for a censor certificate and it asked them to go back to the Madras High Court division bench for relief on January 20.
While rejecting the plea, a two-judge bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih questioned the pace at which the case was dealt with by the Madras HC.
"What a blistering pace? Please wait for High Court's final order. When the matter is fixed before the division bench, you don’t challenge that order. Please go back to the division bench," the apex court said and asked the petitioner to raise the arguments there.
KVN Productions LLP had challenged an interim order of the Madras High Court that stayed a single-judge direction to grant censor board clearance to the Tamil movie, which was slated for a Pongal release on January 9 and is billed to be Vijay's last before his full-fledged entry into politics.
During the hearing on Thursday, Justice Datta noted that the matter is already posted for hearing by the Madras HC division bench on January 20.
Senior advocate and former Attorney General (AG) of India Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the producers, said a film is a perishable item, and it would cause "serious injury" if adjudication of the dispute is delayed. "It is a long-settled industry practice to announce the release date before Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) clearance, and over 5,000 theatres were booked for the screening of the movie. The entire exercise of the CBFC was mala fide," he submitted to the apex court.
The senior lawyer further said the communication, which was received from the CBFC on January 5, stated that they had referred the film to the review committee.
Jana Nayagan, was earlier slated for a Pongal release on January 9, but could not be released due to the two-judge bench stay of the HC order on it.
On January 9, the Madras High Court's two-judge bench, stayed a single judge's order directing the CBFC to immediately grant a censor certificate to Jana Nayagan.
The two-judge Bench of the HC, headed by Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, on an appeal filed by the CBFC, granted an interim stay against the single judge's verdict.
In its order, the division bench said the petition was filed on January 6, and the CBFC was not granted sufficient opportunity to file its reply. "There shall be a stay," the bench of the HC stated and ordered notice to the producer of the movie and posted the matter for further hearing to January 21.