HC allows Red FM to participate in auction

The Delhi High Court on Sunday allowed Red FM radio channel to participate in the FM radio e-auction scheduled for Monday.

A bench of Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva granted permission to Red FM, a company associated with the Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun TV, to participate in the third phase of FM auction scheduled for July 27.

The court quashed the government's July 15 decision denying security clearance to the radio channel as well as rejecting its application for permission to take part in stage three of FM auctions.

In a special sitting held on Sunday, the HC allowed the channel plea as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) had expressed its inability to defer the auctions even by an hour.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd against the ministry of information and broadcasting's decision to refuse its radio channel, Red FM, permission to participate in the third phase of auctions.

As per the company's plea, the application of the company to participate in the auction was rejected as they were not given security clearance by the union home ministry on the ground that Kalanithi Maran, a shareholder in the radio channel, was facing prosecution in a money-laundering case.