MediaOne licence revoked due to MHA's national security concerns; cannot insist on natural justice: Centre to Kerala High Court

The Central government has told the Kerala High Court that the recent decision of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to revoke the licence of Malayalam news channel MediaOne was based on credible national security concerns flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). [Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited v Union of India & Ors.].The Centre, however, refused to state what the concerns raised by MHA were, and also contended that a party cannot insist on observing natural justice principles in a situation involving national security. The Central government, in a statement filed through Assistant Solicitor General S Manu, said that going by the decision of the Supreme Court in Ex-Armymen's Protection Services P. Ltd Vs. Union of lndia and others, in a situation of national security, a party cannot insist for the strict observance of the principles of natural justice..On January 31, the channel was taken off air following which they approached the High Court, which decided to defer the operation of the Ministry's order for two days, (ending today) and stated that there must be no interruption to the broadcasting of the channel.Today, the Court extended its earlier interim order till February 7..The Central government in its response opposed the grant of any interim reliefs to the petitioner channel, would defeat the purpose of the guidelines that are set in place for granting security clearance. "The MHA has informed that denial of security clearance in the case on hand was based on intelligence inputs, which are sensitive and secret in nature, therefore, as a matter of policy and in the interest of national security, MHA does not disclose reasons for denial. It is submitted that the interim order passed by this Hon'ble Court if continued is defeating the purpose of the relevant guidelines and objective of obtaining the security clearance of MHA", the statement said..At the hearing today, the ASGI informed the Court that a sealed cover had been submitted with some sensitive information indicating the reasons for denying the security clearance. However, the Court directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to produce its records and file a counter affidavit by Monday.Senior Advocate S Sreekumar, appearing for the petitioner, also stated that he would file a detailed counter by next date of hearing..The ASGI also pointed out that even though it was not necessary for it to adhere to any principles of natural justice and afford the petitioner an opportunity to be heard, the Ministry had issued a show cause notice.To this Justice N Nagaresh remarked, "What is the point of issuing show cause? The MHA has denied security clearance and you will not give reasons but you want them to show cause?".In the statement filed today, the Centre opposed the petitioner's argument that it had not received any reply from the MHA to its request for security clearance saying that the MHA does not directly communicate with companies."In this connection it is clarified that the applications for renewal is first examined in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and then Ministry sends the proposal to the MHA for security clearance. Thus, the contention of the petitioner that their request to MHA for security clearance is not replied is of no significance. MHA does not accept any direct communication from the companies," the response said..The Centre confirmed that in September 2011 it had granted permission to M/s' Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited to uplink and downlink a news and current affairs TV channel namely, "Media One".However, policy guidelines of the I&B Ministry were amended keeping in view the fast evolving electronic media and thus consolidated guidelines were notified on December 5, 2011..In 2012,the company applied for uplink and downlink of a Non-News TV channel "Media One Life" and News TV Channel "Media One Global".Further, the company applied for appointment of two Directors namely, Musliyarakath Mehaboob and Rahmathunnissa Abdul Razack by a letter dated March 31, 2015. Both requests were forwarded to the MHA in 2015, the Central government has said. Based on the previous MHA clearance received in 2011, which was valid for 10 years, the Ministry granted permission to M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited for "Media One Life".However, in 2016, the MHA denied the security clearance to both the proposals i.e. permission of additional TV channels namely, "Media One Life" and "Media One Global" and appointment of two Directors.A show-cause notice was issued to the company as well..The company then submitted its reply in which they said that they are unaware of the grounds of denial of security clearance since the same was never communicated to them nor were they a party in those proceedings. .The reply, it is claimed by the Centre, was examined by the I&B Ministry but in view of the denial of the security clearance, the permission granted for uplinking and downlinking "Media One Life" was cancelled on September 11, 2019.