While the Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed entertainment channel NDTV Imagine to continue airing its reality TV show Pati Patni Aur Woh, the government has slapped a showcause notice on the channel for violations of the Programme Code under the Cable TV Networks Act, 1994.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has shot off the showcause notice under clause 6(1) of the Act saying the reality show offends good taste, denigrates children and is not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition. The channel has been asked to respond to the notice within 15 days, it is learnt.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had last week complained to the Ministry about the use of babies in the programme. The NCPCR had on September 30 issued a notice to the channel to halt the telecast of the show, stating that it violated child rights.  

However, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the interim order of the Commission and allowed the channel to continue to air it.

The show, which went on air from September 28, is based on a BBC programme Baby Borrowers, and is about parenting responsibilities, from pregnancy, to taking care of infants, toddlers and teenagers for a period of four days each.

NDTV Imagine had challenged the commission's order in the High Court before Justice Sanjiv Khanna, saying the panel had no jurisdiction to pass such orders. “The said order has been clearly in violation of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, because the Act does not give any jurisdiction to the commission to pass orders against citizens,” NDTV Imagine said.