Kerala High Court has extended the interim stay on the Union information and broadcasting ministry’s order cancelling the licence of Malayalam news channel MediaOne till Monday. Justice N. Nagaresh, who heard the plea on Wednesday, directed the Centre to produce the files from the Union home ministry that recommended the cancellation of the channel’s broadcasting licence for security reasons.

Advocate Rakesh K., who filed the plea on behalf of Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited that owns MediaOne, told The Telegraph that the court explicitly told the Centre that it wanted to know the exact reason why the home ministry recommended the cancellation of the licence.

Additional solicitor-general of India S. Manu informed the court that the decision was based on security reasons, which could not be revealed to the public.
However senior counsel S. Sreekumar, who argued for the petitioner, submitted that the licence could not be cancelled without prior notice.

In the plea, the petitioner had contended that it had not engaged in any anti-national activity. The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing on Monday when the Union government would have to produce the home ministry’s files concerning the matter.

The information and broadcasting ministry had on Monday issued an order revoking the licence of the channel, which led to a seven-hour blackout until the high court stayed the order until Wednesday (today).