The revocation of a TV channel's uplinking permission was upheld as the petitioner violated policy guidelines by outsourcing core operations without approval, justifying the respondent's actions under Article 19(1)(a) and relevant regulations.

COMMON ORDER:

As the parties in both these writ petitions are one and the same and the issue involved is intrinsically interconnected, these writ petitions are taken up, heard together and are being disposed of by this common order.

2. Writ Petition No.6732 of 2024, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India , is filed by the petitioner, seeking the following relief:

“….to Issue a Writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Direction or Order against the Respondent, declaring the Order vide F.No.1404/6(ii)/2006-TV(I) Vol.III.Part Dt. 06.03.2024 of the respondent wherein the petitioner's permission to uplink and downlink of the News & Current Affairs TV Channel namely 'Prime9 News' permitted vide Ministry's Letter No.1404/6(ii)/2007-TV(I) dated 04.12.2007 (Registration number 108/1/2007-TV(I)) is revoked with immediate effect and the name of the Channel is removed from the list of TV channels permitted by the Ministry as illegal, arbitrary, unilateral and against to the principles of natural justice and also in violation of the fundamental rights of the Petitioner under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and in violation of Section 20 of the Cable Television (Networks) Regulation Act, 1995 one without authority and lack of jurisdiction set aside the same and consequently direct the respondent to restore the permission of the petitioner to run the News And Current Affair TV channel and to pass such other and further order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case..…”

3. Writ Petition No.8625 of 2024, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India , is filed by the petitioner, seeking the following relief:

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“….to issue a Writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Direction declaring the action of the respondent in not considering the representation through mail Dt. 22.03.2024, 23.03.2024, 26.03.2024 under the guise of proceedings order 15.03.2024 File No.1404/6(ii) 2006-TV (1). Vol. III part, referring to the orders in W.P No.4580 of 2024 in compliance to the orders stated that since the respondent has already cancelled the permission of the channel Prime 9 news by the order Dt.06.03.2024, the application for change of name and logo of the said channel has become infructuous, though this Hon'ble Court suspended the cancellation of the proceedings Dt.06.03.2024 issued by the Respondent vide W.P No.6372 of 2024 Dt.18.03.2024 as illegal, arbitrary, unilateral and against to the principles of natural justice, and also in violation of the fundamental rights of the Petitioner under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and consequently declare that the petitioner is entitled to Use the Name and Logo of RNN for uplinking and downlinking of its news and current affairs channel and to pass such other and further order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.…”

4. The brief facts that are necessary for disposal of the present writ petitions are stated as under:

a) The petitioner-M/s.Rayudu Visions Limited (M/s. RVML) is the company incorporated under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956 on 08.04.2005 to run the TV channel under the name and style “RTV”. It is stated that the petitioner had obtained pe