KAL CABLE (SCV) License cancelled.

[prakash_Tv]

Kal Cables gets relief from Madras HC
Court sets aside Ministry of Home affairs order that cancelled the MSO's license


The Madras High Court today set aside the Home Ministry's order that had asked Maran family-run Kal Cables to cut its signal from midnight today.

After hearing arguments, Justice V Ramasubramanian today said that the company should be given a chance to reply and the Ministry can take action only if it is not satisfied with the reply.

The court said that Kal Cable is only a distributor and not the broadcaster. So if the license has to be cancelled on security reasons, which have been cited by the Ministry, then the broadcaster's license should have been cancelled.

On August 20, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting ordered cancellation of Kal Cables' license and gave it 15 days time to cut its signal. The Home Ministry said in view of denial security clearance by the I&B regular registration cannot be granted to Kal Cables. It added that as per rules permanent registration granted to Kal Cables Pvt Ltd stands cancelled.

The MSO operator challenged this order in the Madras High Court, claiming that it was not given an opportunity to present its case.

Last week, when the matter came up for hearing, the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Court that it will submit a report on the reasons behind the cancellation. G Rajagopal, the Additional Solicitor General of India, early this week submitted a “confidential” report to the Court.

During the argument early this week, he said, that the Ministry had taken the decision in the interest of national security, economy interest and fare competition.

"We don't know what is in the report (submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs early this week on why Kal Cables was not given license), we don't know what is the threat proposition,” said Senior Counsel P S Raman, who appeared for Kal Cables.

He said if the clearance was not given because of Marans, then the action is questionable.

Raman argued that Kalanithi Maran had resigned from Kal Cables as Chairman and Director in September 2009, while his younger brother Dayanidhi resigned as the Director when he became Union Minister in 2004. It may be noted, a charge sheet has been filed against both the brothers on Aircel-Marxis deal.

"None of the management representatives, board members or shareholders are facing any legal issues, no FIRs are filed, no criminal proceedings or complaints are against them,” said Raman, who said that 75% of the shareholding of Kal Cables is held by Mallika Maran and balance 25% by DK Enterprise, a private entity.

He also argued that the company is not running any satellite channel nor is it into transmission. “We (Kal Cables) are doing last mile connectivity,” Raman said.

Kal Cables, a leading MSO in Chennai is run by Maran family. While, Marans-run DK Enterprises holds around 25% in the company, balance 75% is held by Former Union Commerce Minister and DMK Leader Murosli Maran's wife Mallika Maran.

Kal Cables gets relief from Madras HC | Business Standard News

 

[HOUSE-MD]

 

[Thakur]

The Madras High Court today set aside the
Home Ministry's order that had asked Maran
family-run Kal Cables to cut its signal from
midnight today.

After hearing arguments, Justice V
Ramasubramanian today said that the company should be given a chance to reply and the Ministry can take action only if it is not satisfied with the reply.

The court said that Kal Cable is only a
distributor and not the broadcaster. So if the
license has to be cancelled on security
reasons, which have been cited by the
Ministry, then the broadcaster's license should have been cancelled.

On August 20, the Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting ordered cancellation of Kal
Cables' license and gave it 15 days time to cut
its signal. The Home Ministry said in view of
denial security clearance by the I&B regular
registration cannot be granted to Kal Cables.

It added that as per rules permanent registration granted to Kal Cables Pvt Ltd stands cancelled.

The MSO operator challenged this order in the Madras High Court, claiming that it was not given an opportunity to present its case.

Last week, when the matter came up for
hearing, the Ministry of Home Affairs told the
Court that it will submit a report on the
reasons behind the cancellation. G Rajagopal,
the Additional Solicitor General of India, early
this week submitted a “confidential” report to
the Court.

During the argument early this week, he said,
that the Ministry had taken the decision in the interest of national security, economy interest and fare competition.

"We don't know what is in the report
(submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs
early this week on why Kal Cables was not
given license), we don't know what is the
threat proposition,” said Senior Counsel P S
Raman, who appeared for Kal Cables.

Kal Cables gets relief from Madras HC | Business Standard News

 

[sasitnj]

The Madras high court on Friday quashed the Union government's order cancelling the permit to Sun Group's cable television arm Kal Cables.

Read more at: Madras high court quashes cancellation of licence to Sun Group's Kal Cables | சன் டிவியின் கல் கேபிள் ?..

 

[Satvijay]

i discussed with my LCO, he said there are very little chance of scv going out( his opnion) as they have invested so much on the infra and also they are going pay heavily to win the case , he also said analog will not stop even if SCV signals are stopped, he is already giving signals from TCCL and SCV. once scv stops he said he will give TCCL signals and for the STB he said they are yet to decide.

im happy, i will continue with my existing stb. :k

 

[aravindan]

As our forum friends suggested earlier today, It seems "justice bought" by SCV..

Already people & LCOs were in a confusion to go for SCV STB for the past decade..

After this case's end, from hereon people & LCOs would hesitate more than ever before to go for SCV STB..

Finally Centre's move of making chennai digitised by allowing remaining 9 MSOs in the field have become standstill again..

SCV will also start making all the efforts in chennai to stick people with analog which eventually won't affect their own channels' TRP & stop the competitor (other genres channels) to enter chennai.

Finally,
CHENNAI CURSED WITH ANALOG

 

[praveenpersonel]

:new Ministry of Information and Broadcasting going to challenge the Madras high court verdict by monday in Supreme Court :spohya

 

[Viki]

Just who still claim this is "Justice Bought" ...

CHENNAI: Pulling up the Maran brothers, Madras High Court wondered whether the time has come to hold abuse of power for amassing of wealth of unimaginable proportions, as an assault on security of the State even while quashing the cancellation of licence to Kal Cables, on Friday.

The petitioners (Maran brothers) attracted adverse scrutiny for abuse of official position and large scale corrupt practices as revealed in the file summoned from the Union Home Ministry, Justice V Ramasubramanian observed and said the Centre too should desist from double standards on what constitutes ‘security’.

The stinging observation was made while passing final orders on a writ petition from Kal Cables Private Limited, of media czar Kalanidhi Maran, challenging Centre’s August 20 order directing it to wind up its operations in 15 days, on ‘security’ reasons. There were no adverse reports against the present directors/key executives of the company from the security of point of view, judge pointed out. Economic rather than military aggression may soon become more dangerous, judge said, referring to Maran brothers.

Entire information contained in the file, from Union Home Ministry, revolved around gross abuse of official position, adoption of corrupt practices of incomprehensible nature to make unlawful gains of unprecedented propositions, amassing of wealth of unimaginable scales and registration of regular criminal cases against the promoters of the company, the Judge noted.

As such, the Centre should have applied its mind on whether such abuses and corrupt practices constitute an affront to the security of the State or not, to enable the Union Home Ministry to deny security clearance. For, as pointed out by the Supreme Court, what constitutes ‘security’ is a matter of policy for the central government to decide and not for the court to define.

“Therefore, the government should spell out clearly whether such acts as revealed in the file would constitute security and if so, the same yardstick would apply at all levels, not only against Multi System Operators but also against the TV channels,” the Judge said. However, the Court held that this order will not preclude the Centre from taking any action in accordance with law, if on the basis of information available with them, against the petitioner and/or against the TV channels which form part of the same group and/or about the manner in which permission was granted to the petitioner to be an MSO on September 30, 2006, when one of the promoters was the Union Minister and/or about the circumstances under which the file relating to the permission granted to the petitioner was kept back for 7 years from 2006 till 2013 without being forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

***

 

[aravindan]

As our forum friends suggested earlier today, It seems "justice bought" by SCV..

Mr.Viki..I agree. It's my assumption & not a official statement.
SCV is here to stay & its the god of chennai cable..hya
I'm finding more words to make SCV followers happy..hya
Hats off to SCV's service motto..hya
MIB should cancel all other MSOs license instead of SCV's.


But,
Only 1.5 Lakhs STB seeded out of 20 Lakhs connections for past decade in chennai.

i.e 15000 STB / year.

If digitisation goes in this rate, chennai would be digitised atleast in the year "2137.A.D"

Don't worry friends..SCV's monopoly will digitise chennai before all of us die..tup:tup

Until then we watch sun tv daily soaps..:tup

 

[HOUSE-MD]

HC allows Kal Cables to keep operating, slams its promoters.
----------------------------------------------------------

CHENNAI: At first glance, it appears to be a solace for Sun Group's Kal Cables. But the Madras high court's verdict on Friday quashing a central government order against Kal Cables is, in fact, a harsh indictment of its promoters Kalanithi Maran and Dayanithi Maran.

On Friday, the court quashed the August 20 order of the information and broadcasting ministry cancelling cable television licence for Kal Cables to distribute television channels, but said the company's promoters had come to adverse notice "for abuse of official position and largescale corrupt practices."

"May be a time has come to hold that the abuse of official position by a person in power and the amassing of wealth of unimaginable proportions, is also an assault on the security of the state. Economic aggression may soon become more dangerous than military aggression," observed Justice V Ramasubramanian, asking the Centre to apply its mind and decide whether such abuses and corrupt practices constituted an affront to the security of the state or not.

Justice V Ramasubramanian, making it clear he would not discuss or disclose factual contents in the secret file submitted to him by the Centre, said: "The entire information contained in the file revolves around allegations of gross abuse of official position, adoption of corrupt practices or incomprehensible nature to make unlawful pecuniary gains of unprecedented proportions, amassing of wealth of unimaginable scales and the registration of regular criminal cases against the promoters of the company."

On August 20, the I&B ministry cancelled the provisional registration given to Kal Cables in 2006 on the ground that the Union home ministry had not given security clearance for the operations. The company then moved the court to get the order quashed, saying it had been cancelled without any showcause notice to the company and that it was merely a cable television company, a multi-system operator.

The Centre, on its part, submitted a 'secret file' to the judge and said the licence was cancelled due to security concerns. The company, however, disputed the argument saying its promoters — Kalanithi Maran and Dayanithi Maran — had quit the company several years ago and that they did not have any case pending against them.

Trashing the arguments, Justice Ramasubramanian pointed out that when Kal Cables obtained permission from the I&B ministry, Dayanithi Maran was Union minister for communications and information technology and that "somehow it was managed that the file was not sent for security clearance to the ministry of home affairs from 2006 to 2013." And, Kalanithi Maran resigned from directorship only in September 2010. "I would certainly not buy the argument," he said, adding: "If, actually, the acts of the former founder/promoter/director of Kal Cables are perceived by the government to have been harmful to the security of the state, it is no defence to say that today he does not continue to be a director, though his mother is the holder of 75% of the paid-up share capital."

Turning his attention to the Sun Group's commercial TV channels, Justice Ramasubramanian wondered why the issue of security clearance and threat to state security had not been invoked against these channels as well. "The promoters of Kal Cables are also promoters of a group of several satellite commercial television channels known as Sun TV group. If security clearance cannot be given to Kal Cables, the same logic would extend to those television channels whose role and importance in society is much more than that of a mere multi-system operator. But no action has been taken against those television channels on the ground that security of India is threatened."

The judge, however, quashed the cancellation order, pointing out that the Centre had failed to afford an opportunity of hearing to the company. He also said the order would not preclude the Centre from taking any action against Kal Cables or Sun Group or the circumstances under which security clearance to Kal Cables was kept back for seven years from 2006 to 2013.

---

Source: The Times of India