MediaGuru moves Delhi High Court challenging show-cause notice by I&B Ministry

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice in a plea filed by media services company MediaGuru challenging a show-cause served on it by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting..Justice Kameswar Rao issued notice and directed the Central government to produce the records related to the show-cause notice before the Court.The matter is listed for hearing on March 4..Counsel for MediaGuru informed the Court that the show-cause notice did not assign any reasons. It was submitted that MediaGuru has had a good reputation and had been running for ten years without any complaints. Now, when it applied for renewal of its license, the notice was served.It was stated that serving notices on media houses without providing any reasons, and doing so under the garb of "national security," is arbitrary and gives the government despotic power. The notice thus needs to be set aside, it was argued..MediaGuru was represented by Senior Advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Sidharth Luthra, along with Advocates Mayank Sapre, Kumar Shivam and Preetika Dwivedi..Earlier this month, the Kerala High Court upheld the decision of the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to revoke the licence of Malayalam news channel MediaOne. The Central government had revoked the channel's license citing national security concerns. Justice N Nagaresh observed that the material handed over to the Court in a sealed cover indicated that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sufficient cause to deny security clearance to the channel.MediaOne subsequently appealed this decision before a Division Bench of the High Court, which reserved its verdict..Kerala High Court reserves order on MediaOne appeal against ban