India: Kerala High Court temporarily defers Centre's order to revoke licence of Malayalam news channel
Media One was taken off air on the order of the central government citing security reasons
Kochi: Kerala High Court has deferred the order of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting revoking the licence and removing the name of a Malayalam news channel 'Media One' from the list of permitted news channels citing security reasons.
The High Court deferred the order till the next hearing, which will be on Wednesday.
Single Bench of Justice N Nagaresh made it clear that the broadcasting should not be disrupted till the case was decided. The Court also directed the Ministry and other respondents to get detailed instructions.
This interim order was passed on a writ petition filed by Media One today seeking a direction to withdraw the order issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In the plea, Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, which is the parental company of the channel, argued that it has not been involved in any sort of anti-national activity.