IMCL Vs. MEDIA PRO ENTERPRISE INDIA PVT. LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE dispute in the present case pertains to the rates charged by the respondent as subscription fee for DAS phase II areas. Petitioner No. 1 is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is engaged in the business of Multi System Operator (MSO). Respondent is an authorized distributor of signals of Star and Zee Group of channels. Petitioners No. 2 to 4 are joint ventures of petitioner no. 1 and Petitioner No. 5 is a partnership firm. Petitioner no. 1 retransmits cable television signals to its link operators as well as to its direct consumers in various territories across the country.

(2.) ON 06.02.2013, Petitioner No. 1 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the respondent for re -transmission of the respondent's channels from its network for a period of twelve months commencing from 01.7.2012. As per this Memorandum of Understanding, the term of the same was from 01.7.2012 to 30.6.2013 or till the mandatory implementation of DAS phase II, as notified by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Para 2 of the said Memorandum of Understanding relating to the term is as under: -

(3.) THE parties agreed before the Delhi High Court for a protem arrangement on 18.4.2013 as per which, petitioner No. 1 was to sign the DAS agreement by 25.4.2013 and deposit in Court 50% of the amount of the difference between what was being paid at that time and what was being demanded by the respondent under the new regime, within ten days and to deposit balance 50% by way of bank guarantee in favour of Registrar General of Court within two weeks. (copy of order is available as Annexure -P -1 on pages 29 -31 of the Paper Book).