NEW DELHI: The Gujarat High Court today dismissed two petitions seeking postponement of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in the four cities in the state that were covered under Phase II of digitisation.

Justice Rajesh Shukla quashed the petitions filed by Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) through its President Pramod Pandya and another body of local cable operators from Surat.

This follows a similar order by the Karnataka High Court earlier in the day striking down Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association‘s (KSCOA) petition.

The court also vacated the stay ordered on 28 March in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara, thereby allowing the Information & Broadcasting ministry to implement analogue signal switch-off in the state.

Earlier, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had impleaded itself as a party in the case in Gujarat, primarily to argue that there should be no delay in DAS.

In its petition, the COAG had said that there was shortage of set top boxes and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes.