ITV

Tag: Lokesh Agarwal

  • Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm interim stay till 6 April

    Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm interim stay till 6 April

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm once again, the Calcutta High Court has extended the interim stay till 6 April 2015.

    Previously, the Calcutta High Court had put the stay order on the cancellation of the registration of Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSOs) till 17 January 2015, citing that Digicable Comm, having been in business for quite some time and would suffer irreparable loss and injury, unless appropriate ad-interim protection is granted to them.

    Jishnu Saha, a senior advocate for the petitioners, did hope for an extension of the interim order. An extension was also sought to file the affidavit-in reply since affidavit-in-opposition had been filed out of time. “Interim order already granted is extended till 6 April, 2015 or until further order, whichever is earlier,” said DigiCableComm Services operations and technology VP Lokesh Agarwal, quoting the letter.

    As hoped, time to file affidavit-in-reply has been extended till 27 January, 2015, he further said.

    It should be noted that in July last year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable Comm. Services.

    Digicable Comm, a joint venture (JV) between Digicable (51 per cent) and Kolkata-headquartered Multicar Group (49 per cent) was formed in the year 2009, to gain the foothold in the West Bengal market.

    Digicable Comm is hopeful that after appealing to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and moving to the High Court, the decision would be in favour of the MSO. “We are happy to get the stay order extended from the High Court. Slowly we will expand in the region,” added Agarwal.

    MHA cancelled the company’s permanent registration on 18 July due to denial of security clearance.

    Cable TV experts when asked to comment on the reason for the denial of security clearance by authorities said this might be due to Amit Nag who was the then chief executive officer (CEO) and on the board and the application for DAS (digital addressable system) had his signature.

    Now, going forward what happened with the MSO here is not hidden from anyone. Nag not only resigned from Digicable but had convinced around 412 of the 600 cable operators affiliated to Digi Cable to switch to Hathway along with him. More than 400 LCOs affiliated to DigiCable when switched to Hathway did not think that they would have to spend sleepless nights and some even behind bars, cable TV sources said.

    At present, Digicable Com which boasted more than four lakh connections in the KM area is left with less than 50,000 set top boxes (STBs).

    “We will follow the mandates. We are hopeful that the authorities would consider the minute details presented by us,” said Agarwal.

  • Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim stay by eight weeks

    Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim stay by eight weeks

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm, the Calcutta High Court has extended the interim stay by eight weeks.

    “Today, our matter was listed in Court No. 8 of the High Court under Justice Nadira Patheria with regards to Digicable Comm’s DAS licence for Kolkata and Howrah. The Court has allowed further extension of interim stay by eight weeks,” said Digicable Comm Services VP-operations & technology Lokesh Agarwal.

    Earlier also, the Calcutta High Court had put a stay order on the cancellation of the registration of the Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) till 28 November, saying “Digicable Comm which has been in business for quite some time would suffer irreparable loss and injury, unless appropriate ad-interim protection is granted to them.”

    While the extension has been granted, the MSO is yet to get clarity on whether the extension, that is eight weeks, in this case, would be calculated from 28 November 2014 or 17 November 2014.
    If Digicable Comm is given eight weeks starting 17 November, then the interim extension will be till 17 January 2015.

    It should be noted that in July, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable Comm Services.

    Digicable Comm, a joint venture between Digicable (51 per cent) and Kolkata-headquartered Multicar Group (49 per cent) was formed in the year 2009, to gain foothold in the West Bengal market.
    Digicable Comm is hopeful that after appealing to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and moving to the High Court, the decision would be in its favour. “We are happy to get the stay order extended from the High Court,” added Agarwal.

    It should be noted that MHA cancelled the company’s permanent registration on 18 July due to denial of security clearance.

    Digicable Com which once had more than four lakh connections in the KM Area is left with around 25,000 set top boxes (STBs). “We will follow the mandates. We are hopeful that the authorities would consider the minute details presented by us,” concluded Agarwal.
     

     

  • Calcutta HC extends stay order on Digicable Comm’s licence cancellation till 28 Nov

    Calcutta HC extends stay order on Digicable Comm’s licence cancellation till 28 Nov

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm Services once again, the Calcutta High Court has further extended the interim stay on the cancellation of the registration of the Kolkata-based multi system operator (MSO), till 28 November.

     

    As reported earlier, the MSO had got a stay order on the cancellation of the registration of its license till 29 August, which was later extended till 31 October.

     

    The case was again up for hearing today. “The matter was heard and the stay has been further extended till 28 November 2014,” said Digicable Comm Services VP – operations and technology Lokesh Agarwal.

     

    Around two months ago, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable Comm.

     

    Digicable counsel had earlier argued in the court that the MIB only stated the reason for cancellation of registration as not receiving security clearance from the Home Ministry. However, it did not give the reason for denial of security clearance. The Ministry counsel, in his response said that the reason for non- clearance cannot be disclosed to Digicable for security reasons.

     

     The court observed that when the MSO received its DAS licence in 2013, it was subject to security clearance from Home Ministry and the same has been denied in the order passed last month. Subsequently, Digicable Comm was asked to stop operations within 15 days.

     

     Digicable Comm however appealed to both the Home Ministry and High Court in order to put a stay on the cancellation.

     

  • Kolkata HC puts stay order on Digicable Comm Service’s license cancellation till 29 August

    Kolkata HC puts stay order on Digicable Comm Service’s license cancellation till 29 August

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm Services, the Calcutta High Court has put a stay order on the cancellation of the registration of Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSOs) till 29 August.

     

    In the order that was passed on 12 August, it states that “The petitioners having been in business for quite some time would suffer irreparable loss and injury, unless appropriate ad-interim protection is granted to them.”

     

    It continues to say, “The operation of the order dated 17/18 July, 2014 shall remain stayed till 29 August 2014”.

     

    Last month, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable.

     

    The Digicable counsel had argued in the court that the MIB had only stated the reason for cancellation of registration as not receiving security clearance from the Home Ministry. However, it did not give the reason for denial of security clearance. The counsel from the ministry side stated that the reason for clearance not being given cannot be disclosed to Digicable for security reasons.

     

    The court also observed that when the company was given the DAS licence in 2013, that was subject to the security clearance from Home Ministry and the same has been denied in the order passed last month. They were subsequently asked to stop operations within 15 days.

     

    Digicable Comm was hopeful that after appealing to the Home Ministry and moving the High Court, the decision would be in favour of the MSO.

     

    The company is a joint venture between Digicable (51 per cent) and Kolkata-headquartered Multicar Group (49 per cent) was formed in the year 2009, to gain the foothold in the West Bengal market.

     

    “We will follow the mandate. We are hopeful that the authorities would consider the minute details presented by us,” said Digicable Comm director Dileep Singh Mehta.