I&B ministry cancels permits of Sakshi TV

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s TV channel ‘Sakshi’ was shocked by the Central Information and Broadcasting Department. The permission granted to the channel is now revoked, and the department removed Sakshi from the list of allowed channels in the country.

The directives were issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the 20th of last month. This is due to the fact that the Central Home Department did not give ‘Security clearance’ to the channel. In view of the internal security of the country, the Home Department grants Security Clearance only subject to certain criteria.

However, it is not known why the Centre didn’t give its nod to Jagan’s own channel. The employees of Sakshi approached the Telangana High Court and urged that if the channel shut down, hundreds of people would lose their livelihoods. The channel employs about 600 people, both directly and indirectly.

The Supreme Court has previously made it clear that the interests of shareholders, workers, consumers and others belonging to the company concerned should also be taken into consideration before taking any adverse action. But, on the contrary, the channel permissions were revoked.

The Telangana High Court has issued interim orders in favour of Sakshi TV. The next hearing is adjourned to the 11th of next month. Until then, the interim orders will remain in force.