Madras HC allows Sun Group to participate in Phase-III auction for FM Radio license
Chennai : The embattled Maran brothers on Thursday got a reprieve from the Madras High Court which by an interim direction permitted their Sun Group to participate in Phase III auction for FM Radio broadcasting license. The Union Home Ministry had refused to grant security clearance to the Sun Group in the wake of the Kalanithi and Dayanidhi Maran brothers facing massive charges of economic fraud by way of establishing an illegal telephone exchange at the home of the latter. This made the group ineligible to bid for the FM auction virtually threatening its existence as it owned 45 FM Radio Stations across the country.
On Thursday Justice M Sathyanarayanan granted the group permission to bid in the auction subject to the final outcome of a batch of six petitions filed by Sun TV Network, KAL Radio, South Asia FM and its share holders. The judge argued that the company’s participation in the auction could increase the bid amounts, ultimately benefiting the country. However, it directed the Government to keep the bids by Sun Group in a sealed cover and produce before the court during the next hearing.
In an 18-page order, Justice Sathyanarayanan said: “During the period of operation as FM radio broadcasters, the petitioner companies did not come to any adverse notice and admittedly, none of the companies are arrayed as accused either in Aircel-Maxis case or prosecution launched by CBI in the illegal telephone exchange case. The cases are still in the stage of investigation.”
Holding that an accused is presumed innocent unless proved guilty, the judge said, “The said presumption for the present, operates in favour of the petitioners.”
The court said that if the rule applied for the Maran brothers by the Government was upheld then one of the shortlisted companies, involved in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, should also have been eliminated from the bidding process.
“The court has not touched upon the merits of the case of either the petitioners or the respondents, as the writ petitions have to be adjudicated on its own merits,” the judge said.
Soon after the order, the group companies filed six caveat petitions in the High Court so that if the Union Government challenges the single judge”s interim direction, no orders could be passed without hearing the petitioners.
[alert type=”e.g. warning, danger, success, info” title=””]
‘We are not tax dodgers’
Chennai : In the backdrop of a Delhi court summoning media baron and SpiceJet chairman Kalanithi Maranin for allegedly failing to deposit TDS worth over Rs 147 crore, the reclusive Sun TV Group owner on Thursday issued a statement saying that he was not a tax dodger.
“The companies of the Sun Group collectively and me in my personal capacity pay more than Rs 600 crores as taxes annually to the national exchequer. There have been several occasions when tax authorities have awarded trophies and honored Sun TV Network Ltd with citations for exemplary compliance and for topping the region in terms of highest tax payments. We are not tax dodgers,” he said in his statement.
According to him, SpiceJet was the only company in the Sun Group that had difficulty in making timely payments during 2014, which was inevitable given the challenging times faced by the airline industry. “Despite those hurdles, we had cleared all its dues around February 2015 well before the new promoter took over. It is therefore to be noted that there was no evasion of tax as reported but only a delay in making those remittances”, he said.
[/alert]
Dravida Thambi
