Small relief for Maran’s cable firm

In a small relief to Kal Cables Pvt. Limited, part of the Kalanithi Maran-led Sun Group, the Madras High Court on Thursday stayed a portion of an Information and Broadcasting Ministry order of August 20, cancelling the licence of the multi-system operator (MSO) with immediate effect.

As per the court order, the MSO need not run a continuous scroll on the screen stating that its services would not be available after 15 days (specifying the date) and send a CD of the scroll message to the I&B Ministry.

Further hearing

Justice V. Ramasubramanian passed the interim order on a writ petition by the MSO which challenged the order. He posted the matter for further hearing on September 2.

Provisional permission The cable firm contended that originally, it was granted provisional permission on September 30, 2006, to operate as an MSO, subject to security clearance by the Union Home Ministry and adherence to terms and conditions of the permission. Following an amendment to the Cable Television Network Rules, it applied to the I&B Ministry in May 2012 to validate the deemed registration.

By an order of June 19, 2012, the Ministry granted permission to the petitioner for 10 years from September 30, 2006, the date of initial permission. Based on this, it was conducting its business, the company pointed out.

Security clearance

But by a letter dated August 20, the Ministry cancelled the permanent registration granted to it with immediate effect, stating that the Home Ministry had denied security clearance to the petitioner.

The MSO said the cancellation had been done without issuing a show cause notice and affording an opportunity to it, and this was against the law.

The order did not explain why security clearance was denied.