CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered maintenance of status quo on the matter relating to the disconnection of TV signals transmitted by State-owned TN Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TATCV).
Justice MM Sundresh granted the injunction while passing interim orders on a writ petition by K priya general manager of the Corporation on Monday.
Government counsel Abdul Saleem, prayed for a direction to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in New Delhi to grant provisional license for Digital Addressable System (DAS) to the petitioner under Section 11 E of Cable Television Network Rules, pending consideration of their application dated July 5 and November 23, 2012, for a regular one.
When the matter came up before the judge today, Advocate General AL Somayaji submitted that a total number of 326 provisional registrations have been granted to other operators. Even though, the TACTV applied for the licence much earlier, the Union ministry headed by the previous government did not consider the plea. The Ministry had directed that the phase III areas comprising municipalities and corporations will have to be digitised by December 31 this year. Otherwise, the signals of TACTV will be disconnected. The inaction on the part of the Ministry is illegal, against the due process of law and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, the Advocate General argued.