The decision comes months after the Delhi High Court upheld the restriction, introduced in 2006, and ruled that there was “no constitutional guarantee of profitability or unlimited monetisation of public resources”.
In May, a Delhi High Court bench of justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan dismissed petitions by several general entertainment channels, news broadcasters and regional channels challenging the restriction’s legal validity.
The court held that TRAI acted within its statutory authority in fixing a ceiling of “10+2 minutes per clock hour” and said the framework struck a proportionate balance between broadcasters’ rights and public interest. “There is no constitutional guarantee of profitability or unlimited monetisation of public resources,” the court had said, rejecting broadcasters’ arguments that the cap adversely affected their advertising revenues and commercial speech rights.
