MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has ordered a stay on a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) directive to a channel where it had withdrawn the channel’s licence stating that it lacked security clearance.

Alliance Broadcasting had taken MIB to court for the issue since stating that since its security clearance had been withdrawn by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), it was liable to have its licence taken away. It even rejected its application to extend the renewal for 10 years. Further responses on this case have been sought from the MHA and MIB.

The channel got its licence in 2007 when it was known as Real Estate and in 2014 it rebranded to News7 Tamil. Since then, the channel has maintained its reputation and had even given the required annual licence fee. In November 2017, MIB issued a show cause notice to it. After a joint hearing, the MIB ordered cancellation of its licence due to lack of security clearance certificate.

While approaching the court, it not only wanted to overturn this but also get its extension of 10 years. It even wants the MHA to disclose the reasons for which its security clearance was rejected.