NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today ruled against the telecast ban imposed by the Union Government on Malayalam news channel MediaOne.
The court set aside the Kerala High Court order which had upheld the Centre’s decision to ban Malayalam news channel ‘MediaOne’ telecast on security grounds.
“Some of the reports cited by IB are that minorities favoring reports were telecast, there was critique of UAPA, NRC, CAA and criticism of judiciary and executive… such reports are just inference of what is available in the public domain. There was nothing to show terrorist links,” the Court said. Claims of national security being affected cannot be made in thin air, the bench underscored. “We hold national security claims cannot be made on the basis of thin air. It is seen that none of the material is against national security or threatens public order,” the judgment said.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said, directed the Ministry to issue renewal license to the channel within four weeks.
It was of the opinion that non-disclosure of reasons for denial of security clearance by MHA and the disclosure only to the Court in a sealed cover has violated the principles of natural justice and the right to fair proceedings, leaving the company “in the dark to fight out”.
It must be noted that the government had disclosed reasons for the ban to the Kerala High Court in a sealed cover the and channel was not made privy to those reasons. The apex Court made it clear that such a procedure adopted by the government in disclosing reasons for the ban only to the Court and in a sealed cover has affected the rights of the petitioner-channel.
The channel had moved top court challenging a Kerala High Court Division Bench judgment which had upheld the Central government’s revocation of security clearance for the channel’s license. On January 31, 2022, MediaOne channel was taken off air following which it approached the High Court, which decided to defer the operation of the Ministry’s order.