Supreme Court to decide Legality of 'Sealed Cover Procedure' adopted by Govt, Read Order

The Supreme Court is progressing in its bid to decide the legality of 'Sealed Cover Procedure' as on the hearing in this week, has granted more time to Government to file their reply.

The full-judge Bench of Justice D.Y Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Bela M Trivedi granted four more weeks to Centre Government to file the affidavit in view of the upcoming vacation.

The development speed up in backdrop of an appeal filed by MediaOne, the news channel which was barred by Centre to operate by denying renewing of the license.

The Kerala High Court had upheld the Centre's decision to not renew the channel's broadcast license on the basis of certain documents produced by the Ministry of Home Affairs in a "sealed cover" raising National Security concerns.

The Supreme Court pressed for the examination of legal validity of relying on 'sealed covers' submitted by Governments, as the appeal primarily opposes the ambiguity arose due to this.

In the appeal, it was contented that the reasons for the ban was not disclosed resulting in disadvantage to the defence.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave who appeared for the appellant-channel has urged the Top Court to authoritatively decide the Sealed Cover Jurisprudence and shed light on its becoming a big factor in outcome of the cases.

"This is regarding sealed cover jurisprudence. In Assam again, the same thing has happened where a sealed cover has been submitted in the case of Gujarat MLA. This needs to be decided authoritatively"

Previously, in an interim order the Court had stayed the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting refusing to renew license of MediaOne.

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