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The grounds for the license suspension were cited as "blatant and continuous" violations of policy guidelines
Two days after the suspension of Mumbai-based news channel Lokshahi Marathi's license by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the media outlet moved the Delhi High Court on Thursday to contest the ban.
Advocate Jayant Mehta, representing Lokshahi Marathi, mentioned the matter before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, urgently seeking its listing.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had suspended the channel's license for 30 days, effectively halting its broadcast. The I&B Ministry has shut down the channel, citing the non-submission of certain documents relating to the company.
The license has been suspended by the government for 30 days on the grounds that the operators of the channel were not the same as those in whose name the licence was issued
As per Clause 32 of the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines-2022, a TV channel or a teleport can be transferred by a company or LLP, granted permission under the Guidelines, to another company or LLP only with the prior approval of the I&B Ministry.
Mehta argued that the ministry's suspension order, sent to the channel on January 9 at 6 p.m., lacked any justification. He emphasized that the order was issued "without any reason". He submitted that even after Lokshahi Marathi had responded to the ministry's show cause notice, action had been taken by the ministry.
The grounds for the license suspension were cited as "blatant and continuous" violations of policy guidelines.
In a statement, the channel said it replied to a show cause notice sent on November 17, 2023. On December 14, 2023, it asked for additional time to submit documents sought by the authorities. “Despite this, the sudden suspension announced on January 9 has shocked us...we will be fighting against this in a legal manner...,” it said.
Notably, this marks the second such action against the TV news outlet within a span of five months. Previously, on September 22 of the preceding year, the I&B ministry imposed a 72-hour ban on Lokshahi Marathi following the airing of a "sexually explicit" video allegedly featuring BJP leader Kirit Somaiya.
After Somaiya's videos were telecasted, the channel was shut down for 72 hours. However, later, the high court stayed the order.
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