The Bombay High Court has granted relief to the TV Today Network Limited, and quashed and set aside an order passed by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) imposing a fine of ₹5 lakh on the network.
A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by the TV Today Network Limited that owns India Today, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, challenging an order and warning dated July 31 by the BARC’s disciplinary council through senior advocates Veerendra Tulzapurkar and Abhinav Chandrachud.
On April 27, the BARC had issued a show cause notice to the group after the statistical data provided by the BARC’s measurement science team showed an abnormal increase in the viewership of the channels owned by the group. The India Today Group had argued that the BARC passed its order without an appropriate quorum and without presenting evidence, among other criteria.
The counsel for BARC argued that now there was a new “Code of Conduct for Redressing Viewership Malpractices”, and its disciplinary council was not averse to giving fresh hearing to the petitioner. The petitioner was also not averse to a fresh hearing and was willing to appear before the BARC’s disciplinary council in view of the above statement.
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On November 5, the Bench recorded: “As a consequence of this consensus, the Petition is disposed of by quashing and setting aside the impugned orders and that the Petitioner will appear before the Disciplinary Council on the date assigned. Order accordingly.”
On October 22, the Bench had directed the network to deposit the fine of ₹5 lakh imposed by the BARC if it wanted protection from any possible coercive action. The court permitted the withdrawal of the amount of ₹5,00,000 stated to be deposited by the petitioner in its Registry.
