The Kerala High Court on Monday stayed the order of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry which revoked the licence of Malayalam news channel ‘MediaOne’ citing security concerns.
The channel which is owned by a group affiliated to Jamat-e-Islami went off air on Monday afternoon and its editor Pramod Raman later appeared on social media announcing the decision of the ministry to suspend its transmission.
Hearing a petition moved by the Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited that owns the channel Justice N Nagaresh stayed the order of the ministry and said that there should not be an interruption to broadcasting.
Senior advocate S Sreekumar appearing for ‘MediaOne’ said initially the ministry said the channel’s licence was revoked on security grounds and later it said it had not applied for security clearance and the licence expired automatically. He also argued that the petitioner was not given a chance to explain its position and it violated principles of natural justice
