MEDIAONE MOVED TOP COURT AGAINST HC's ORDER OF UPHOLDING ITS LICENSE REVOCATION

The Top court was hearing an appeal by MediaOne against the Kerala HC's judgment which upheld the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's decision to revoke the broadcasting license of the channel.

On Wednesday, a Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly upheld a Kerala HC's single-judge decision that rejected the Malayalam news channel's plea against the government's decision.

On February 8, single-judge Justice N Nagaresh upheld the decision of the Central Government to revoke the channel's license.

In January 2022, the ministry issued a notice to Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited (the owner of the channel) in which it was stated that considering national security, the government can revoke licenses. It was also asked to show cause as to why its license should not be revoked as it has not received security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The government informed the single bench Kerala HC that the decision to revoke the license was based on reasonable national security concerns. The Centre further submitted a sealed cover containing the reasons which contributed to the decision to deny security clearance.

The single bench HC upheld the decision of the Centre after observing that the material handed over by the government in a sealed cover revealed that the MHA had sufficient reason to deny security clearance to the channel and hence, the ban is justified.