Court verdict in Kal Cables case by Friday

The Maran family controlled-MSO was asked to cut signal by the govt on Aug 20

The Madras high court on Tuesday reserved its order on a petition filed by Kal Cables, whose licence was cancelled by the Information and Broadcasting ministry citing denial of security clearance by the home ministry.  

After hearing the arguments of both sides, Justice V Ramasubramanian said the final verdict in the case would be out by September 5.  

The HC last week granted a stay on a central government directive to Kal Cables to run continuous scroll for the next 15 days informing subscribers that its service would be cut in 15 days. However, the court allowed Kal Cables not to run that scroll while posting the case for today.

G Rajagopal, additional solicitor general, said the home ministry had received the “adverse” notice and after taking into consideration interests pertaining to national security, economy and fair competition, and therefore decided not to give the security clearance. He also told the court, “we don't know why the file had not come to the ministry between 2006 and 2013”.

Last week when the matter came up for hearing, the home ministry told the court it would submit a report listing reasons for denying the licence. The AG today submitted the “confidential” report to the court. However, he refused to disclose any information relating to the report, except for the court.

Senior Counsel P S Raman, who appeared for Kal Cables, argued the company fulfiled all parameters to secure the licence.“We don’t know what is in the report. We don’t know what is the threat proposition,” said Raman, and added, “if the clearance was not given because of Marans, then it is questionable.”

He argued Kalanidhi Maran had resigned from Kal Cables as chairman and director in September 2009, while his younger brother Dayanidhi resigned as director when he became Union minister in 2004. he MSO provides cable television network services with a digital addressable system. It is one of 17 companies whose licences have been cancelled by the government for the same reason, denial of security clearance from the Union home ministry.

Other companies denied a licence are: Kashmir-based Arshad Cable Network, IB Communications in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra-based Intermedia Cable Communication, Delhi-based Eminent Cable Networks, Digicable Communication Services in Kolkata and Tamil Nadu-based Kavery Digital Networks.

Kal runs Sumangali Cable Vision, part of media tycoon Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Group. The city has a subscriber base of about four million households, of which about one million are direct-to-home subscribers, said P Shakilan, founder of Tamizhaga Cable Operators Association. Kal has about 1.3 mn subscribers.