NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today dismissed on technical grounds a petition filed against implementation of CAS in the three metros of Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.

The special leave petition (SLP) had been filed by United Cable Operators' Welfare Association of India.

After studying the petition, the Apex court today decided that the SLP did not merit a hearing on a number of grounds, according to information available with Indiantelevision.com.

The petitioner, amongst several other reasons, had said that rollout of CAS would not be beneficial for consumers and should be deferred as DTH technology had already come in to the country.

Interestingly, while it had argued in the court against the rollout of CAS, the petitioner has been party to almost all CAS-related meetings organised by the government since 2002.
According to a Delhi High Court mandated arrangement, agreed upon by the government and the industry, CAS is slated to be rolled out in the south zones of Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai from 1 January 2007.

The sector regulator has already paved the way for the implementation of CAS by deciding on the prices of pay and free to air channels in a CAS regime.