The fiasco miring the release of the Kangana Ranaut starrer film Emergency (“Film”) recently met with another roadblock, this time at the hands of the Bombay High Court, as the court refused to direct the Central Board of Film Certification (“CBFC”) to release the CBFC clearance certificate (“Certificate”) to the Film’s producers, viz., Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (“Zee”). Instead, the court opted to defer passing any directions for the time being.
Zee approached the Bombay HC, seeking a writ of mandamus to be issued to the CBFC for releasing and handing over of the Certificate so as to proceed with the Film’s release. Zee alleged that the CBFC was illegally refusing to hand over the same despite having cleared the Film for release. It contended that producers had carried out the necessary cuts and modifications, as per CBFC’s suggestions, whereafter, the CBFC cleared and certified the Film as UA for exhibition. Zee also produced emails sent by the CBFC to the producers which indicated that the CBFC had, in fact, asked Zee to collect the certified CD of the Film and the Certificate from the CBFC office.
CBFC, on the other hand, contended that a certificate could not be deemed as issued until it is signed by the Chairperson of the CBFC. CBFC also contended that, contemporaneously with the current proceedings, the Madhya Pradesh High Court was also seized of a petition opposing the release of the Film, where, the CBFC had, in fact, been directed to consider the objections of the organizations who had objected to the Film’s release, before certifying the Film for public release. In view of these directions by the MP HC, CBFC argued that Bombay HC should defer issuing any directions against it for now.
The Bombay HC expressed disagreement with the first leg of CBFC’s submissions and remarked that accepting such submissions would, in effect, empower the Chairperson to unilaterally refuse Certification to any film, even when it may be in compliance with the CBFC criteria. As regards the second limb of CBFC’s submissions, it was observed that the MP HC seemed to have mistakenly proceeded under the impression that the Film was not yet cleared by the CBFC, and that the MP HC was not properly apprised of the entire scenario surrounding the Film’s certification by the CBFC.
Notwithstanding the above, the Bombay HC refused to pass any directions, highlighting that directing CBFC to release the Certificate would amount to a direction to violate the MP HC order. As such, in the interest of judicial propriety, the court directed the CBFC to consider the petitioners’ objections before the MP HC, as well as of any other persons/groups who are objecting to the Film, in an expeditious manner, and to complete the exercise by September 18th. The matter is listed again before the court on September 19th.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. v. Central Board of Film Certification & Anr. [W.P. (L) NO. 27429 OF 2024, Bombay High Court]
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