Kerala HC upholds MIB ban on MediaOne channel

The Kerala High Court has upheld the Ministry of Information and Broadcast (MIB) order revoking the license granted to Malayalam news channel MediaOne, citing security reasons. Dismissing the writ petition filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd challenging the MIB decision, Justice Nagaresh has said that this court is “not inclined to interfere with the denial of renewal of the petitioner's license. The writ petition fails and is accordingly dismissed."

"Going through the files, I find that the Ministry has called for intelligence inputs. Based on the intelligence inputs, the committee of officers has found that security clearance should not be given. The ministry has decided to accept the finding of the Committee of Officers. There are inputs justifying the denial of security clearance. Therefore, I am dismissing the writ petition,” said the Justice.

The court said that the broadcaster’s reliance on Supreme Court’s verdict on Pegasus was not worthwhile as it was given in the context of right to privacy. According to the court, the SC verdict in the 2019 case Digicable (Network) India Pvt Ltd v Union of India which held that there is no right to a prior hearing when clearance is denied on grounds of national security was more pertinent in deciding this case.

The court had requested the files from the home ministry for denying the channel the permission to broadcast citing security reasons.
The channel had filed the writ hours after the MIB revoked its license for want of security clearance. The court immediately provided an interim relief of two days, which was further extended twice. The channel contended that it had not been involved in any anti-national activities and requested the withdrawal of the ministry’s order.