- (1.)Leave granted.
(2.)This appeal, by special leave, arises from the judgment and order dated 09.09.2010 passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital in Special Appeal No. 92 of 2010, whereby the Division Bench of the High Court while allowing the appeal filed by the Respondent set aside the order dated 11.5.2010 passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition No. 671 of 2010 and quashed that part of the demand order dated 30.4.2010 passed by the District Magistrate, Haridwar, whereby a license fee of Rs. 11,88,500/- was demanded from the Respondent.
(3.)The brief matrix of facts is that the Respondent is a Cable Television Network Operator in Haridwar as defined Under Section 2(aa) of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. He obtained necessary Licence to run the Cable Network. As a Cable Operator, he down-links the signals from Satellite and retransmits the same through his Cable Network System to different broadcasters. He is entitled to transmit and retransmit broadcasts and is bound by the liabilities and obligations pertaining to and including the Cinematography Act. The Respondent started two private channels with effect from April 1, 2009 and thereby he started transmitting live programmes of Haridwar and other programmes of interest, including Hindi songs and movies, with the assistance of a video recorder. On being informed that a separate license was required to run these channels, he approached the District Magistrate, Haridwar for obtaining the necessary license. The District Magistrate rejected his application in view of the restrictions imposed under Rules 11(1) and 11(2) of the Uttarakhand Video Rules, 1988.