BREAKING| MediaOne Moves Supreme Court Against Kerala High Court's Decision Upholding Telecast Ban

Malayalam news channel MediaOne has moved a special leave petition before the Supreme Court on Wednesday hours after a division bench of the Kerala High Court upheld the recent ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

MediaOne has not been operating since 8.2.2022. It has been submitted that the SLP is filed with great urgency in as much as it has been running for the last 10 years without any complaints and 350 employees/journalists working therein are gravely affected by this ban. 

Advocate on Record Pallavi Pratap will be representing the petitioners in the matter. 

"The present petition has been filed under dire and compelling circumstances, and raises seminal questions of law impinging upon the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the importance of an independent , free and unbiased press guaranteed by our Constitution, reads the petition."

It has also been advanced that in para 46 of the impugned judgment, the division bench refers to a direction to the Centre to produce the original files. However, when the matter was heard on 10th February, both sides concluded their arguments and the judgment reserved.

Therefore, it is contended that there was no occasion for bench to pass an order for the production of files nor has any subsequent order has been passed in the knowledge of petitioner. On that ground, the petitioner has argued that this direction was passed behind their back and that they were caught completely unawares about the requisition of files.

The petitioner further contended that the impugned judgment was patently illegal since Clauses 9 and 10 of the uplinking and downlinking guidelines make it abundantly clear that for the purpose of renewal of license, security clearance is not a factor to be considered. 

Moreover, since there was not a single complaint or any action against the petitioner in the last 10 years, it was aserted that renewal was a matter of right for the petitioner on a plain reading of Clauses 9 and 10. 

Reliance was also placed on the Supreme Court judgment in Manoharlal Sharma Vs. Union of India(Pegasus case) where it was held that the scope of judicial review in matters pertaining to national security is limited, however, it does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised.

Background:

On January 31, a few hours after the Ministry suspended the channel's telecast citing security concerns, MediaOne had approached the Single Judge with a plea. The channel owned by Jamaat-e-Islami went off the air on the very same day. 

Although the Single Judge granted the channel an interim relief allowing it to telecast till the case was decided, Justice N. Nagaresh held that after perusing the files from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, it has found intelligence inputs that justify the denial of security clearance to the channel. The Ministry had produced the files before the Court in a sealed cover.

Aggrieved by this, MediaOne had approached a Division Bench with an appeal. However, the division bench agreed with the single Judge and upheld the recent ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting citing that national security was of utmost importance for the smooth functioning of a country. 

Case Title: Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited v. Union of India