New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a plea by Malayalam news channel MediaOne against the Kerala high court order upholding the Union government’s decision to ban it from broadcasting content without giving the channel an opportunity to examine or defend itself against the government’s claims of ‘security concerns’.A bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices A.S. Bopanna took note of the submissions of senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the news channel, that the plea needed an urgent hearing.“This is too serious. For 11 years, we have been functioning and we have 350 employees and millions of viewers. We have been shut down because of some secret files from the Home Ministry. Both the single judge and the division bench of the high court have justified this (action of the government) behind my back,” the senior lawyer said.“The issue involved is right to information and freedom of press,” he said.Also read: Interview | ‘Completely Kept in Dark’: MediaOne Editor on Channel Ban, HC Verdict and MHA“List on Friday before an appropriate bench,” the CJI said. The date of hearing was later advanced to March 10, Thursday, after Dave mentioned the issue a second time, LiveLaw has reported.In February, the Kerala high court accepted the Union home ministry’s denial of security clearance to the Malayalam news channel and upheld the government’s decision to ban it from broadcasting.The Union government previously also told the court that the Ministry of Home Affairs had denied security clearance to MediaOne “over national security concerns based on intelligence inputs.”The channel, on the other hand, contended that MHA clearance was only required at the time for fresh permission or license and not at the time of renewal.It had also contended that, according to the uplinking and downlinking guidelines, security clearance was only required at the time of application for fresh permission and not at the time of renewal of license.The channel and its editors have noted that little was offered by way of justification for the ban.“We don’t know anything more about this than you do. The most recent information regarding the ban came from the high court verdict. We were first sent a show cause notice. But this notice did not say what cause we needed to show,” channel editor Pramod Raman had told The Wire.Notably, Justice Nagaresh of the Kerala high court chose to set aside the Supreme Court’s ruling last year that national security could not be a “bugbear that the judiciary shies away from”.In that judgment, the Supreme Court had set up an independent expert committee to investigate the use of Pegasus spyware against journalists, opposition politicians and others, overruling pleas by the government that “national security concerns” required a veil be placed on the question of surveillance.However, the Kerala high court judge had said, it “not worthwhile as it was rendered in the context of the right to privacy.”MediaOne is run by a Muslim management and is known for reports that are often critical of the Modi government and its policies. Reporters of the channel have won several honours in journalism.MediaOne had earlier moved an appeal before the Kerala high court against this verdict.