In what is perceived to be a major relief to thousands of television subscribers across the metros, the Delhi high court on Friday directed the Centre to implement the Conditional Access System for cable operators within four weeks.
Justice Vikramjit Sen, while passing the order, also imposed a penalty of Rs 100,000 on the Centre towards damages for the multi-system operators for delaying the implementation of the scheme since July 2003.
The order was passed on a petition filed by the MSOs - Hathway Communications, Indus India and Indian Cable Network (RPG) - challenging the decision of the ministry of information and broadcasting not to implement CAS despite recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The MSOs, in their petition, claimed that implementation of CAS would drastically reduce the subscription charges paid by subscribers.
Speaking to PTI later, Rupa Sharma, president of the Cable Operators Federation of India, and Ashok Mansukhani, executive director, HTMT (Incablenet), said the judgement was a victory for millions of subscribers across the country as they would now have to pay reduced cable tariff rates.
Sharma claimed that subscribers who, till now, were paying about Rs 250 per month, will have to now pay only about Rs 75-150 per month.
