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Our Bureau

New Delhi , May 6

NONE of the private FM radio companies have paid up the annual licence fee even as the deadline expired today.

Sources in the Government confirmed that nobody had paid up, but some of the companies, which had approached various courts in Delhi and Chennai, had received stay orders against encashment of bank guarantees.

FM operators such as Radio Today from the Living Media Group and Entertainment Network India Ltd (of the Times Group) had approached the courts for respite.

Government sources said that the Information and Broadcasting (I&) Ministry would study the stay orders before taking any action. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had given the Government permission to encash the bank guarantees but prohibited it from cancelling the licenses.

The FM radio companies have been asking the Government to defer payment of licence fee of over Rs 100 crore till a new revenue-sharing arrangement is in place. The Ministry has, however, maintained that any deferment is a policy decision needing Cabinet consent. The Election Commission has also indicated that such a decision would lead to violation of the Code of Conduct.

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