The Madras High Court, on January 9, stayed its own earlier order directing the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) to grant a UA certificate to
Vijay-starrer Jana Nayagan.
A divisional bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan stayed the single bench’s order, stating that the CBFC had not been allowed sufficient time to file a reply to the petition.
The single bench’s order presided by Justice PT Asha was passed on the morning of January 9. Immediately after, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta filed an appeal on the CBFC’s behalf.
During the hearing, the court asked the Assistant Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan what urgency there was for filing an appeal.
Responding to the query, the ASG said, “The petition was filed on January 5. It came up before the court on January 6. We were asked to produce the intimating review of certification. We produced it on January 7. We produced the complaint from Mumbai and produced it on January 7 in an envelope. The matter was heard in the afternoon on the same day, and orders were passed today,” he further said.
When the court asked the appellant what the urgency was with the petition, senior advocate Mukul Rahtogi, appearing for KVN Productions, explained that the movie had been scheduled for release on January 9.
The court replied that the producer had created an “false state of” urgency in the matter and that they should have waited for the certificate to be passed before announcing the release date.
Rohtagi also told the court that the anonymous complaint—alleging that Jana Nayagan hurts religious sentiments—had been filed by a member of the CBFC’s examining committee.