Kerala HC dismisses Media One’s plea on licence renewal; Channel to move SC

A division bench of Kerala High Court (HC) upheld the order of the single bench that ratified Centre’s ban on Media One, the Malayalam News Channel, citing security reasons.

Dismissing the plea of Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, the parent company, the Division Bench of the HC, comprising Chief Justice Mani Kumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly, on Thursday (March 3) approved the argument of Additional Solicitor General that the Channel cannot be permitted to go on air “as there is an intelligence input against the channel concerning the security of the nation”.

Also read: MediaOne, staff appeal in HC against order upholding Centre’s closure of the channel

In 2019 too the Centre had rejected Media One’s request for approval of two additional channels — Media One Global and Media One life — citing security reasons again. However, Media One, the news and current affairs Channel, ran uninterrupted till it came up for renewal of licence a few months back. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting refused to renew its licence citing MHA’s disapproval for security clearance. Thus the Channel went off air on January 31, 2022.

Also read: Will fight legally, says Malayalam TV channel MediaOne after Centre’s ban

The Kerala High Court stated that it is in consonance with the security concerns raised by the Additional Solicitor General, though the court said it has not ascertained the relevant facts fully. The Court dismissed Media One’s argument that they were not informed of the alleged wrongdoing on their part before imposing the ban. However, the alleged ‘security reasons’ are not even disclosed to the court completely which is evident from the statement by the court that ‘nature, gravity and depth of the issue is not discernible from the files’.

“We have gone through the files extensively and insofar as the files relating to uplinking/downlinking of ‘Media One Life’ and ‘Media One Global are concerned, certain aspects relating to the security of the State are mentioned to the effect that Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited has some linkages with certain undesirable forces, which is stated to be a security threat. It is in spite of the same that the uplinking and downlinking was permitted to Media One TV,” the judgment read.

Also read: Kerala HC on MediaOne: Security clearance must even for licence renewal

The court observed that it found serious adverse reports by the Intelligence Bureau against M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited and its Managing Director while considering the application filed for the renewal of the uplinking and downlinking of Media one TV in 2021. “It is true that the nature, impact, gravity and depth of the issue is not discernible from the files. But, at the same time, there are clear and significant indications impacting the public order and security of the State. Since it is a confidential and sensitive file maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Union of India, we are not expressing anything further in the interest of national security, public order and other aspects concerning the administration of the nation” the judgment stated.

Pramod Raman, the Editor-in-Chief of Media One TV, told that they would continue the legal fight in the Supreme Court.