SC to hear plea challenging MediaOne ban on March 10

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea against the Kerala high court’s decision to uphold the central government’s non-renewal of the broadcasting licence granted to Malayalam television channel MediaOne, the Hindu reported. The petition has been listed for hearing on March 10.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave mentioned the appeal before Chief Justice of India N V Ramana for an urgent listing. Dave said that the case was “too serious” to be heard late as it concerned the “right to information and freedom of press”.

According to Live Law, Dave said, “For 11 years we have functioned. We have 350 employees and millions of viewers. We've been shut down due to some secret files from home ministry and the court has justified it behind our back. It's too serious a matter relating to right to information and freedom of press.”

The appeal was filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited which operates the channel.

On March 2, the Kerala high court had dismissed MediaOne’s appeal against the single judge order that upheld the channel’s ban. On January 31, the channel had gone off air after the ministry of information and broadcasting had refused to renew the channel’s licence due to “security reasons”.