New Delhi, March 7 : The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on Friday a Special Leave Petition filed by MediaOne against a Kerala High Court order upholding a ban imposed on the Malaylam news channel by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana gave the date of hearing. Senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, appearing for MediaOne, informed the top court that the channel has functioned for 11 years and “due to some MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) secret files, we are banned. This is a serious matter”. The CJI said the SLP will be listed before an appropriate bench. Dave said the Malayalam news channel has 350 employees. “The right to information and press is at stake,” he said. MediaOne moved the apex court challenging the division bench order of the High Court which had upheld the ban imposed on it by the Ministry on January 31 citing security concerns. Initially the single judge bench of the Kerala High Court had granted the channel an interim relief allowing it to telecast till the case was decided. However, Justice N. Nagaresh, after perusing the files from the Home Ministry, held that intelligence inputs justified the denial of security clearance to the channel. The Ministry produced the files before the court in a sealed cover. MediaOne then approached a Division Bench with its appeal. However, the latter upheld the ban citing national security. SM ING MR