New Delhi : Broadcasters those who appealed against the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority’s 10+2 ad cap before the Delhi High Court got a temporary relief till 20th of November as the court has adjourned the case to the above mentioned date, accepting the plea of News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for adjourning the case for 10days, as senior counsel S Ganesh, was not present in view to other pending cases in Mumbai. However, the Delhi HC postponed the case till 20 November since it didn’t have any dates before that to hear the case.
Meanwhile, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) advocate Saket Singh contested that the matter has already been pending for more than 10 months and urged the court for a speedy disposal of the case.
Earlier, The case had been previously heard in the High Court on 17th December 2013, 13th March 2014 and 15th July 2014. During the previous hearing held on 15th July, the HC had adjourned the case as the final hearing of the bunch of petitions challenging the ad cap sort to be imposed by TRAI as the authority has not finalised its rejoinder. The court also insisted that the previous adjournment was final and wanted to finish of the case in the yesterday’s hearing.
Initially, NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Later on other broadcasters like Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television, Maa TV and Raj Television also filed petition Delhi High Court to join them also as a party to the on-going case and attained the relief granted to NBA.