AM Singhvi, Kapil Sibal win Red FM’s participation in mock FM auctions

The Delhi High Court is again in the throes of a strike by lawyers. While this meant a lack of effective hearing in most matters, Court No 2 did see an important order being passed..A Division Bench of Justices BD Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva allowed radio channel Red FM, to participate in the mock auction scheduled for today and tomorrow..The Bench also issued notice to the Centre, seeking a reply to be filed by tomorrow so that the matter could be heard on Friday. The mock auction is a part of Phase III FM auctions that begin on Monday, July 27th. Red FM had been denied security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs and resultantly, disallowed to participate from the auction..Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, the company that owns Red FM had challenged the Union’s order before the High Court. The company argued that being an entertainment company, it did not pose any threat to national security. Both the Bombay and Delhi wings of the company had filed the petition with senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for each wing..Both counsels had tried to disassociate Red FM from the Maran brothers..Singhvi submitted that while Dayanidhi Maran held absolutely ‘no control over both the companies’ (Delhi and Bombay) either as a shareholder or director, Kalanithi Maran held 22% shares in the company which was to be viewed as a minority stake and therefore ought not to be treated as a ‘controlling stake’ in the company..Sibal had argued that none of these persons had been convicted under Prevention of Money Laundering Act; there was no question of them threatening national security..The Bench did seem to agree with this, questioning the Centre as to what the concept of “security clearance” was meant to be. Justice Ahmed also observed that security clearances could be used in an arbitrary manner by governments..“In a democracy, you need to move towards greater transparency than secrecy. You should have simply said [in the tender document] that if a person is facing prosecution, he is ineligible to apply. This is like allowing someone to put their foot in the room and yet slamming the door shut on them, saying that they don’t have security clearance.”.The Bench had sought instructions from the Centre yesterday whether the auctions could be postponed in order to resolve this controversy. The Union, through its counsel Sanjeev Narula, responded in negative today stating that deferring the auctions would have a ‘cascading effect’ and they were ready to have a final argument in the matter on Friday..The matter will now be heard on July 24th, just in time before the auctions are held on Monday.