The Kerala High Court on Monday reserved its verdict on a writ petition filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, Kozhikode, which owns MediaOne channel, challenging the order of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting revoking the licence of the channel. Justice N. Nagaresh will pronounce the judgment on February 8.
When the petition came up for hearing, the Centre made available the files relating to the revocation of the broadcasting licence as directed earlier by the court.
The court also extended by a day its interim order deferring the implementation of the Centre's order against the channel.
The channel contended that it had been granted permission in 2011 for uplinking and delinking programmes after being given security clearance by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The security clearance was required only when a new channel was launched. The guidelines on the uplinking and delinking of programmes did not say that a fresh security clearance should be obtained when the licence was renewed
KUWJ petition
The petition filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) challenging the Centre's order also came up for hearing. The KUWJ said that Centre's order would affect the livelihood of sub-editors,reporters as well as technical staff of the news channel. Security clearance was a camouflage to deny the news channel the licence.
