Kochi: Kerala High Court on Wednesday extended the interim order deferring I&B Ministry’s order to cancel the permission to telecast Malayalam News Channel Mediaone TV till February 7. The HC also asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to file an affidavit by February 7, stating the reasons for denying security clearance to the news channel.
Assistant Solicitor General of India, S Manu submitted before the Court that the channel’s license was cancelled due to security reasons, which cannot be revealed to the public.
The ASG referred to a decision made by the Supreme Court in 2019 which upheld the cancellation of Cable TV licenses observing that the applicant has no right to prior notice when National security issues are involved. The ASG also told the court that the action against the channel was taken based on reports by intelligence agencies.
The Senior Advocate S Sreekumar who appeared for the MediaOne channel, submitted that national security cannot be a reason to cancel the license without providing any prior notice. The Channel’s lawyer’s contended that the security clearance was obtained as early as in 2010. There was no hindrance to this till 2020. Only when applied for a renewal an issue was found. Moreover, there are two different procedures for a fresh application and a renewal application. They also cited the Supreme Court order in the Pegasus case that the State can’t merely state national security as a reason to withhold information. The SC judgment in the Anuradha Bhasin case was also referred to say that the State has to respect press freedom.
