Supreme court stays ban on 'Media One', allows channel to resume broadcast till further order

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Centre's ban on the Malayalam news channel 'Media One' on security grounds and allowed the channel to resume the broadcast till further orders.

The apex court, in its interim order, assailed a Kerala High Court order which had upheld the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's decision not to renew the licence of the channel.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath said that the news and current affairs channel will continue its operations as it was operating prior to the ban of telecast.

However, the top court bench left the question open on whether the content of files on the basis of which the ban order was passed be given to the channel to enable it to defend itself.

The top court asked the Centre to file a detailed counter affidavit by March 26 on the appeals filed by the channel against the High Court order. The Supreme Court issued the order after examining the pleas produced by the Ministry of Home Affairs raising security concerns over the company.