After the initial clearance on January 9, the Madras High Court stayed the certification of Jana Nayagan after an appeal was filed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The court will now hear the matter on January 21.
This means Thalapathy Vijay's film will not release until January 21. Unless, of course, Jana Nayagan’s makers, KVN Productions, approach the Supreme Court and obtain relief.
After the Madras High Court directed CBFC to grant a censor certificate to Jana Nayagan earlier today, the film's distributor, SSR Entertainment, revealed the new release date - January 14. However, the official confirmation didn't come from the makers. Reportedly, the advance bookings for the film had started to open yet again.
The Madras High Court stay was granted by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, after Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared through video conferencing, laid out the CBFC’s grounds for appeal and argued the matter.
As per a Live Law report, a division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan noted: "Respondent Union of India was not given sufficient time..one main grievance of UoI was that they were not given time to reply. Another grievance is that letter dated January 6 was not challenged, but court (single judge) quashed it. Respondents argue that there was no urgency... All said and done there was no certificate granted to respondents".
The Chief Justice also questioned the urgency in filing the appeal on the same day, noting that the appeal was mentioned minutes after the single judge’s decision. Responding, Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan said the proceedings before the single judge were hastened, and the CBFC was not given time to file a counter. Explaining the timeline, he said, "Petition filed on 5th (January). 6th it came up before the court. We were asked to produce the letter (an introductory review of certification). We produced it on 7th. We produced the complaint from Bombay and produced it on 7th in an envelope. Matter was heard on 7th afternoon and orders passed today.”
Appearing for the CBFC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued, "Moulding the relief would not include setting aside an order that's not challenged. Moulding would only be granting something in connection with what has been sought.”
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the producers KVN Productions, submitted that the complaint was filed by a member of the CBFC committee itself. However, the court orally remarked that the producers had created a false sense of urgency by fixing a release date without a certificate, stating, "You're creating an urgency and putting pressure on court… You can't fix a date (for release) and put pressure on the system.”
Stay tuned with India TV for the next phase of details on Jana Nayagan censor certificate row.
