HC refuses to extend Dec 31 deadline for CAS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to extend the December 31 deadline for roll-out of the conditional access system (CAS) in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The court asked multi system operators (MSOs) to adhere to the cut off date to enable viewers of satellite TV channels to have access to the channels of their choice.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hema Kohli said: “Extra time cannot be granted as the scheme is to be implemented by December 31, 2006.” Conditional access system would give cable TV viewers the option of picking and watching channels of their choice through a set-top box and pay only for those channels.

The court rejected the plea of an MSO seeking extension of time on the ground that the laying down of the fibre optic cable was yet to be completed.

However, the court gave liberty to the petitioner Star Broadband Services, an MSO, to approach the government for consideration of its plea. Star, along with an NGO, Shakti, had filed applications for the extension of December 31 deadline, taking plea that necessary infrastructure for the new system has not been laid down.

Earlier, the high court had on July 20 directed the Centre to implement CAS in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The court had granted 22 weeks time to the information and broadcasting ministry to implement it in three of the four metros, as CAS is already operational in Chennai.