The Broadcasters’ appeal against the New Tariff Order (NTO2.0) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI) has been adjourned for hearing on 7th September. To the disappointment of the broadcasters, the Supreme Court did not give any relief by way of ordering a stay on the proceedings of the Bombay High Court dated June 30th.
The Broadcasters approached Mumbai High court on NTO 2.0 but they didn’t get any relief except on one of the twin conditions of bouquets of channels. This led the broadcasters to approach Supreme Court for a relief. However, the bench headed by the Chief Justice took up the case and was very much disappointed with the way 51 volumes of documents were presented by the broadcasters in support of their claim. “ A lorry had to be engaged to carry these documents. Do you want to terrorise the judges from not reading all these documents?” was the observation of the CJ. The case has then been adjourned for hearing on 18th.
Today, when the case came upo for hearing, TRAI was granted time to file its response by 7th September and the case has been adjourned for hearing on the same day. The SC did not give a stay and hence the Bombay HC’s orders still prevail. However, TRAI is not likely to act in haste since the matter is right now in the Supreme Court. The request for an interim protection to broadcasters will be decided on 7th, the next date of hearing said the bench comprising of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Aniruddha Bose.
