DHC orders I

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today had ordered the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to implement the Conditional Access System (CAS) in all the four metros within four weeks.

Issuing the order, Justice Vikramjit Sen asked the centre and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to comply with the order and said they would be fined Rs one lakh if there was any further delay in compliance.

The order said that, ''it was necessary in the interest of the public to protect the petitioner, as they had invested several crores of rupees in order to ensure smooth implementation of CAS.'' ''If the central Government is satisfied that it is in the public interest to take necessary steps, then it could also specify the maximum amount which a cable operator may demand from the subscriber for receiving the programmes transmitted in the basic service tier provided by the cable operator,'' the order said.

In CAS, Consumers get the option to choose the channels they want to pay for and view, rather than receiving the whole set of channels that the Cable Operator makes available to them. The decision is likely to benefit the consumers.

Indian consumers today are receiving approximately 80-100 channels without a choice at a fixed price. The primary medium of distribution is the mass of 15-20,000 cable operators spread all over the country. Today, Indian cable and satellite (C