Kochi: The Kerala High Court has issued an interim order extending a stay on the implementation of Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s order to ban the telecast of MediaOne TV till February 7.
The high court directed the Union home ministry to produce the documents including files in connection with the ban order. Earlier the high court rejected the central government’s plea to quash the interim order.
On Monday a single-judge bench of the high court had deferred the ban order for two days. This was in response to the plea filed by the media group immediately after the Centre barred the transmission citing “security reasons”.
The case will come up for hearing on February 7. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has been involved as a party in the case.
Justice N Nagresh is hearing the petition filed by the news channel owners Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd against the Central government’s order banning the telecast.
Assistant Solicitor General S Manu who appeared on behalf of the Central government informed the court that the law does not permit disclosure of the security reasons and it was based on the intelligence report that the Union Home Ministry denied security clearance to the channel.
However, the counsel for the petitioners argued that the Central government’s action was a violation of fundamental rights and freedom of press. The court clarified that all documents related to the ban need to be examined.