MediaOne ban: SC issues notice to union government

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the union government in MediaOne channel's special leave petition challenging the Kerala High Court's decision upholding the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB)'s recent ban on the channel. The matter has been adjourned to Tuesday (March 15), when the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath will consider the petition for interim relief.
Senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the channel, pleaded that there was no complaint against the channel during its ten years of its functioning. He also contended that there is no need for any security clearance for the renewal of license for the channel.
The MIB banned Media One after the home ministry declined to give clearance to the channel due to “security reasons”. The ban was upheld by a single bench of the Kerala High Court on February 9.

The bench further demanded that the Centre produce the relevant files (Home Ministry files that raised national security concerns) on which the High Court relied.
MediaOne had petitioned the single judge’s verdict with a request on January 31, just hours after the Ministry had suspended the channel's telecast due to security concerns. The Jamaat-e-Islami-owned channel went off the air the same day. Despite the fact that the Single Judge granted the channel an interim injunction enabling it to broadcast until the matter was resolved, Justice N. Nagaresh stated that intelligence inputs contained in the files of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs justified the denial of security clearance to the station. The files were presented to the court in a sealed cover by the ministry.
Apart from the MediaOne channel, editor Pramod Raman and Kerala Journalists Union also had filed appeals before the apex court.