Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has ordered that Vidya Lewis, who had previously been ordered by the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) to cease her broadcasting operation/ transmission on Channel 27/Cable 78, is entitled to be issued a broadcasting licence.
Justice Chang made the order at an in-chambers hearing, at the High Court in Georgetown, on Wednesday.
The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) and the Attorney General were listed as the respondents in the action, which was initiated by Lewis in January this year.
In an affidavit supporting her motion, Lewis said that in a letter dated December 5th, 2007, she was ordered by Managing Director of the NFMU Valmikki Singh to cease with immediate effect, all operation/transmissions on Channel 27/Cable 78, and she complied. She added that she commenced operations of the television broadcasting facility located at Kuru Kuru, Linden-Soesdyke Highway in February of 2000.
The applicant explained that she applied in 1998 for a broadcasting licence, and permission was granted by “Mr. Grudge,” the then NFMU Director, to import the television broadcasting equipment, together with the allocation of Cable 78/Channel 27. The station was known for broadcasting religious programming. Lewis said in July, 2001, she was required, as an existing broadcaster, to submit a new application for licence. According to her, a decision on that application was never communicated to her and she continued broadcasting on the assigned frequency until she received the cease order from Singh. The same frequencies were later used by the China Central Television (CCTV) station, when it began broadcasting.
According to Lewis, in January of 2008, she wrote to former president Bharrat Jagdeo, making an appeal to him against the decision of the NFMU but she never received a response.
The applicant said she then again applied in 2012, under the new Broadcasting Act, and she then received a letter, dated November 8th, 2012, from Secretary (ag) Violet Boyal, indicating that her application was acknowledged and that the board was addressing licensing under the new law and, thereafter, new applicants would be addressed. Lewis complained that she heard nothing further from Boyal. This, she argued, was even though she would have submitted all necessary documentation required for her application.
Lewis said in a letter, dated November 7th, 2014, counsel for the GNBA then requested an update on the status of her application, to which she responded in a letter, dated November 14th, 2014.
Upon hearing counsel for Lewis and with there being no appearance by or for the respondents, Justice Chang “ordered and declared that the applicant is, and was at all material times entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in Article 40 of the Constitution.”
Justice Chang added further that it is “ordered and declared, the applicant is entitled to be issued a broadcasting licence pursuant to section 18 (1) (e) of the Broadcasting Act, 2011.”
Section 18 (1) (e), which deals with functions of the GNBA, states that it shall “suspend or revoke any licence provided the licensee is given a reasonable opportunity of making representations unless this is impracticable.”
Lewis was represented by attorney Abiola Wong-Inniss.
