[MediaOne ban] What bulls**t may have been stated in sealed cover, we do not know: Dushyant Dave on MHA's lack of disclosure

An impassioned Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave on Wednesday vehemently opposed the Central government's ban on Malayalam news channel MediaOne, particularly assailing the failure of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to disclose reasons for the ban..Arguing before a Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli, Dave, said of the Kerala High Court order upholding the ban,"Court of law has relied on this without showing us the file (submitted in sealed cover)! With greatest respect to the judge, but what bulls**t may have been stated in the file, we do not know.".The Senior Advocate subsequently apologised for his choice of words. .The Court was hearing an appeal by MediaOne challenging the Kerala High Court Division Bench judgment which had upheld the Central government's revocation of security clearance for the channel's license..Dave argued during the hearing,"You cannot take away the right of the press, this Court has zealously guarded it...Their action is wholly unconstitutional and arbitrary, makes a mockery of Constitutional principles."Referring to the Programme Code that governs the operation of news channels, Dave said that channels must be mandatorily given 45 days' notice of removal, which was not provided in the present case. He went on to say,"My only concern is the issue arose because the channel's owners are from a minority community. It is highly respected one among Malayalees here and abroad."At this point, Justice Kohli asked,"Just asking, in the course of hearing did you ask the Division Bench for a copy of the records?""Yes, we said the single-judge cannot just rely upon them without...A Constitution Bench has said this is completely wrong," Dave replied..Dave went on to elaborate on the dangers of using sealed covers in court cases, stating,"My lords this should be the approach. It [sealed covers] has become very common in last 7-8 years, it is a dangerous precedent, we have seen it in Rafale and CBI Director cases.".On February 8 this year, a single-judge of the Kerala High Court had upheld the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B Ministry) to revoke the Malayalam channel's licence. The Court had opined that the material handed over to it in a sealed cover indicated that the MHA had sufficient cause to deny security clearance to the channel, thereby justifying the ban.During the hearing of the appeal against this order, the Central government had told the Division Bench of the High Court that the decision to revoke the licence was based on credible national security concerns.A Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly had upheld the single-judge's decision, prompting the channel to approach the Supreme Court..On March 13, a Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath stayed the ban on the channel and ordered that it can resume operations in the same manner in which it was being operated before revocation of security clearance.