HEARING of a Constitutional Motion by Chandranarine Sharma and Savitree Singh seeking to set aside the Suspension Order of their licence for TV Station Channel 6 by the President, on the advice of members of the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting, will begin today before Acting Chief Justice, Ian Chang, S.C. In their motion, which has been filed in the Supreme Court Registry recently, they are contending that the members of the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) were not lawfully constituted within the Provision of Regulation 23 B (1) and (2) of the Wireless Telegraphy (Amendment) No  2 Regulation 2001.
The applicants are also seeking a declaration that none of the members of the ABC, constituted by the Chairman Mr. E. Persaud, Mr. R. Chase, and Mr. N. Mc Lean, meets the threshold requirement of “persons knowledgeable and with recognized competence in matters relating to Broadcasting” as required by Regulation 23 (B) (2) of the Regulation.
The motion is also contending that the nature of the Advice and Recommendation tendered to the President, as Minister of Information, and the process by which it was reached required that reasons should be given and failure of the ACB to give reasons rendered the decision unfair and a denial of natural justice.
The applicants have also filed a summons seeking a conservatory order demanding that pending the hearing and determination of the originating summons in this motion, the suspension order of the Applicants Broadcasting Licence of CNS Channel 6, 2011, signed by President Jagdeo as amended by the letter of 9th October, 2011, again signed by President Jagdeo, be suspended or held in abeyance to be continued on December 1, 2011.
Alternatively, that in the exercise of the powers vested in the Honourable Court pursuant to Article 153 of the Constitution, grant an order nisi suspending or stopping the said suspension until the hearing and determination of the Originating Notice of Motion filed herein.
The Sharmas are being represented by a team of lawyers headed by Mr. Rex Mc Kay, S.C.
The suspension stemmed from a Tony Vieira commentary aired on May 4, which criticized the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, Juan Edghill who has since sued both the television station & Viera for $25M, each.
The Government had contended that the broadcast was preaching religious divisiveness and acrimony.
Channel 6 had originally had its licence suspended for 4 months and to take effect from October 3, 2011.
But following complaints from members of the opposition, that the shut down during the pre-election period would affect their chances at the elections, preventing them inadequate advertisements, President Jagdeo, on Sunday October 9, announced that he would let the 4-month suspension on CNS TV Station begin from December 1 so that the Opposition parties would have no excuse for the whipping the PPP/C will inflict on them in the 2011 General and Regional Elections on November 28.