WHEN Chief Justice (CJ) (ag) Ian Chang, SC, on Wednesday issued a High Court order instructing the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) to issue businesswoman Vidya Lewis of Lot 220 South Road, Lacytown, Georgetown with a broadcast licence, it ended Cable 78/Channel 27’s three-year battle with that entity for a licence to operate.GNBA had, under the National Broadcasting Licence Act of 2011, refused to grant a licence to the businesswoman who is known for broadcasting religious programmes, and she had taken the GNBA to court.

The Chief Justice ruled that the businesswoman “is and was at all material times entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms set out in Article 140 of the Constitution; and to apply to the High Court under Article 153 of the Constitution for redress for contravention by the State, or its instrumentality, of her fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 40, 142 and 146 of the Constitution”.

The CJ made a declaration that “the applicant is entitled to be issued a broadcasting licence pursuant to Section 18 (1) of the Broadcasting Act 2011; and that this honourable court issues, under Article 153 of the Constitution, such writs, makes such orders, and gives such directions as may be appropriate for the purpose of securing to the applicant the enforcement of her fundamental rights, guaranteed under Articles 140, 142 and 146 of the Constitution.”

Grounds in support of the application are that, pursuant to an application for a broadcasting licence and permission by Mr. Grudge, the then National Frequency Management Unit Director, Lewis, on or about the year 1998, imported the television broadcasting equipment and secured the allocation of Cable 78/Channel 27.

Court documents explained that Lewis commenced operation of a television broadcasting facility located at Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway around February 2000; and before the import licence was issued and the cable/channel was allocated, she presented proof of the acquisition of a site outside the environs of Georgetown to operate the said facility. She had also entered an agreement with an engineering firm to install and maintain the station, and had drafted a project document detailing the design and specification of the proposed facility.

Installation of the facility was completed in February 2000; and in January 2001, when she submitted a new application for licence as an existing broadcaster, the GNBA never told her its decision, until a letter ordering her to immediately cease operations was delivered to her in December 2007 by Mr. Valmikki Singh, Managing Director of the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU).

According to the court document, Lewis complied and wrote a letter to then President Bharrat Jagdeo, appealing the decision by the GNBA/National Frequency Management Unit that had denied her a licence.

Though Lewis received no reply, she again applied in the year 2012 under the Broadcasting Act 2011, Act No. 17 of 2011 enacted on September 29, 2011, and received the president’s assent. However, the Act was not brought into operation until 11 months after.

On November 8, 2012, Violet Boyal, Secretary (ag) of the broadcasting body, delivered Lewis a letter that informed that her application for a broadcasting licence under the said Act was acknowledged, and that the board was considering issuing licences to new applicants under the said Act.

Lewis’s court document pointed out that she had since submitted all necessary documentation as required, but did not heard anything further from the broadcasting body.

Her lawyer, Mrs Abiola Wong-Inniss, delivered to the GNBA on November 7, 2014, a letter that requested an update on the woman’s application.
She received an unfavourable response on November 14, 2014.