Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava said the matter would be taken up for hearing if the Board filed it as a formal petition.
Published Jan 09, 2026 | 12:03 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 09, 2026 | 5:24 PM
Vijay in 'Jananayagan'. (X)
Synopsis: The CBFC challenged the order before a Division Bench of the Chief Justice, barely minutes after a Single Bench of Justice PT Asha asked it to clear the movie. She also asked the makers to make the necessary changes suggested by the censor board.
A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday, 9 December, ordered a stay on a single Bench directive to grant U/A certificate to actor-politician Vijay’s Jana Nayagan.
The high court will take up the matter for further hearing on 21 January. The development has confirmed that the film’s release — originally slated for Friday — would be delayed.
The division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan issued the stay order after the Central Board of Film Certification in India appealed against the single Bench directive in a writ petition.
The CBFC challenged the order barely minutes after Justice PT Asha asked it to clear the movie. She had also asked the makers to make the necessary changes suggested by the censor board.
While ordering the interim stay, the division Bench asked why the single judge had not permitted the filing of a counter-affidavit. The judges also questioned why a decision was rushed within two days and remarked that the court appeared to be under pressure.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the production company.
Earlier, the film’s production company, KVN Productions, had filed a petition before the High Court seeking a censor certificate for Jana Nayagan.
While hearing the case, Justice Asha observed that a complaint raised by a member of the examining committee, after a decision had already been taken to grant a U/A certificate, amounted to an afterthought.
The judge cautioned that accepting such complaints would be dangerous. The court further held that once the film had been viewed and the changes suggested by the censor committee were duly carried out, the Chairperson of the Censor Board had no authority to send the film to a Revising Committee.
Accordingly, the order issued by the Censor Board Chairperson referring the film to a Revising Committee was set aside.
The single judge also directed the Censor Board to immediately issue a 16+ certificate to the film.
Challenging this verdict, an appeal was made on behalf of the Censor Board before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Srivastava through Senior Advocate ARL Sundaresan.
After hearing the submissions, the Chief Justice stated that a decision on when the matter could be heard would be made once the appeal is filed as a petition. Subsequently, the CBFC filed a writ.
