[1]The Supreme Court (SC) questioned Friday the Tamil Nadu government’s authority to ban Dam999. It said states had no power to stop the release of a movie cleared by the censor board for universal exhibition.
A bench of justices A.K. Ganguly and J.S. Khehar, however, declined to pass an interim order lifting the six-month ban without knowing Tamil Nadu stand. It gave the state 10 days to reply.
Additional solicitor general Mohan Jain, appearing for the Centre, said SC had clarified the law while dealing with a Prakash Jha petition against a move by certain state governments to ban his movie Aarakshan a few months ago.
“The law is clear on the right to freedom of speech and expression that it should be protected. If you apprehend breach of peace and law and order, it is your duty to take steps to prevent it. When the whole country has one Constitution, your state cannot have a separate law,” justice Ganguly told TN additional advocate-general Guru Krishnakumar.
Krishnakumar, however, said the two cases were entirely different. While Jha’s film dealt with the “social issue” of reservation, Dam999 showed a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the Mullaiperiyar dam, he said.
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[1] http://103.241.136.51/dam999-2011-1bjpgcropdisplayjpg-375