HC asks I&B Secretary to appear in CAS issue

The Delhi High Court sought the presence of Union I&B Secretary on January 30 in connection with CAS.

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the presence of Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary on January 30 in connection with the controversy over Conditional Access System (CAS) for viewing satellite TV channels in India.

Justice Vikramajit Sen, who had reserved his verdict in September last on Hathway Cable Datacom's petition seeking direction to the Centre to implement CAS, did not pass any written orders to this effect.

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Instead, Sen asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PP Malhotra to ensure that the Secretary remained present before the court on the next date.

"I want him to be here otherwise I will issue contempt," Justice Sen told the ASG.

Observing that the issue had already been decided by a division bench of the court on December 4, 2003, the court said "there is no justification in issuing another judgment".

Hathway counsel Indu Malhotra complained the Centre did not implement CAS despite quashing of its notification by the division bench.

Earlier, appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani pleaded that the court should pass the verdict and formally overrule the contentions raised by the government.

The Centre had told the court that "it is extremely important to examine the entire issue, in a holistic manner, in order to safeguard the consumers' interests and facilitate the consumers to make an informed choice.

In case, the CAS is implemented in the pre-suspended form in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the problems faced in implementation are likely to reappear.

It had also talked of DTH service, saying "the consumers are likely to have an alternative addressability on cable networks through DTH service" as private companies were being issued licences for DTH service.