The Supreme Court of India will hear on January 19 the plea filed by the producer of Jana Nayagan against the Madras High Court’s interim stay on CBFC clearance. The case has put on hold the Pongal release of Vijay’s politically significant film.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on January 19 a plea filed by the producer of Vijay-starrer Tamil film “Jana Nayagan”, challenging an interim order passed by the Madras High Court which stayed a single judge’s direction to grant censor clearance to the movie.
As per the cause list of the apex court, the matter is likely to be taken up for hearing on January 19, though the bench that will hear the case is yet to be assigned.
The case arises from developments in the Madras High Court earlier this month. On January 9, the High Court stayed a single judge’s order which had directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to immediately issue a censor certificate to “Jana Nayagan”.
Due to this stay, the release of the film, which has attracted wide attention because of its political undertones, has been put on hold.
The appeal before the Supreme Court has been filed by KVN Productions LLP, the producer of the film, against the order of the division bench of the Madras High Court. The division bench had kept the single judge’s directive in abeyance, thereby stopping the CBFC from granting certification for the film.
Actor Vijay, who plays the lead role in the movie, recently announced the launch of his political party, “Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)”.
The film “Jana Nayagan” has been widely promoted as his last film before his full-time entry into politics and was originally planned for a Pongal release on January 9. However, the release could not take place as the CBFC did not issue the censor certificate in time.
On January 9, a division bench of the Madras High Court passed its interim order just hours after Justice P T Asha, sitting as a single judge, directed the CBFC to grant clearance to “Jana Nayagan”. Justice Asha had also set aside the film board’s decision to refer the matter to a review committee.
Subsequently, the First Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, heard an appeal filed by the CBFC and granted an interim stay on the single judge’s order directing immediate certification of the film.
Earlier, while allowing the plea filed by KVN Productions seeking a direction to the CBFC to issue the censor certificate, Justice Asha had observed that once the board had taken a decision to grant certification, the chairperson had no authority to refer the matter to a review committee.
Following this order, the CBFC immediately filed an appeal before the division bench of the High Court. Additional Solicitor General A R L Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared through video conferencing and explained the grounds on which the appeal was filed.
One of the key arguments raised before the division bench was that the January 6 letter issued by the CBFC, which informed the producer that the matter had been referred to a revising committee, was not specifically challenged in the writ petition. Despite this, the single judge had set aside the letter and issued directions to grant certification.
In its interim order, the division bench noted that the petition had been filed on January 6 itself and that the CBFC was not given sufficient opportunity to file its response before the single judge passed the order.
Taking note of this, the bench ordered that there shall be a stay on the single judge’s verdict, issued notice to the producer of the movie, and posted the matter for further hearing on January 21.
With the Supreme Court now set to examine the producer’s challenge on January 19, the future of “Jana Nayagan” and its long-awaited release will depend on the outcome of the proceedings before the apex court.
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