CAS postponed in Delhi

New Delhi: The Indian government has decided to put off the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) in Delhi till after the elections, while the rollout will proceed as per schedule in the other three metros of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

This decision comes after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and attended by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Delhi BJP leaders Madan Lal Khurana and V K Malhotra Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Prasad said: "CAS, which was a consumer-friendly measure, had unnecessarily become a case of complex and conflicting political interests and an election issue in Delhi. Hence, the decision to defer its implementation in Delhi." He added that Khurana is not against CAS per se. "Had it not become a political issue, we would have gone ahead and implemented CAS."

Stating that it will be implemented as scheduled in the other three metros, he said CAS is not meant to be "an object of political hostility." He added that the decision to put off CAS till after the Delhi elections will not affect the government's credibility. "There is no question of losing credibility as we are implementing CAS after the elections."