[BREAKING] Kerala High Court upholds Central govt decision to revoke MediaOne news channel license

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday upheld the decision of the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to revoke the licence of Malayalam news channel MediaOne [Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited v Union of India & Ors]..The order was passed by Justice N Nagaresh."I have gone through the files. I find that the Ministry has called for report from various intelligence agencies. Based on those inputs, it was found that security clearance should not be renewed. There are inputs which justify the decision. Therefore I am dismissing the petition," the Court held..The single-judge took into account law laid down by the Supreme Court in judgments dealing with the relationship between the freedom of press and national security while noting that, “...it is clear that principles of natural justice and interference by Court in the matters of national security have very limited role.”.He emphasised that national security is one of the most significant sovereign functions of any State due to the primordial need of citizens and societies to live securely in a nation.To further establish that national security was considered as one of the most important sovereign functions for long, the Single Judge discussed the Atri Samhita, an ancient Indian text, which described the contours of sovereign functions.“The State shall punish criminals, protect good citizens, enrich the treasury by just means, act impartially to all citizens and protect and ensure national security,” he quoted.He went on to explain that these were the five fundamental sovereign functions of any society.“The concept of good governance takes within its ambit a secure state. Ensuring national security necessarily involves pre-empting any possibilities that may result in insecurities.”.However, Justice Nagaresh stressed that national security was an executive responsibility where the legislature and the judiciary only had complimentary roles..The Court went on to discuss the facts of the current case. It was stated that from the files produced, it was clear that the adverse inputs given by the intelligence agencies against the company were serious in nature.“This Court finds that the recommendation of the Committee as finally accepted by the Ministry of Home Affairs are justified by supporting materials,” it was concluded.Therefore, the High Court was not inclined to interfere with the denial of grant of license and thus, dismissed the batch of petitions..On January 31, the MediaOne channel was taken off air following which they approached the High Court, which decided to defer the operation of the Ministry's order..The Central government had submitted that the decision to revoke the channel's license was based on credible national security concerns flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).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..[Read Judgment]