One-liner: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on March 11 a plea of Malayalam news channel MediaOne against the Kerala HC order upholding the Centre's decision to ban its telecast on security grounds.
Urgent hearing needed: A bench took note of the submissions of senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the news channel, that the plea needed an urgent hearing.
Right to information: This is too serious and the issue involved is the right to information and freedom of the press, he said.
Centre's decision upheld: Earlier, the Kerala HC upheld the Centre's decision to bar telecast of Malayalam news channel and had dismissed the plea of Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd, which runs MediaOne, challenging Centre's Jan 31 decision.
Based on intelligence inputs: The HC had said that the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deny security clearance was based on intelligence inputs received from various agencies.
Need to know: The channel had contended that MHA clearance was only required at the time of fresh permission/licence and not at the time of renewal.
Source: PTI