A High Court judge has expressed concern over the broad scope of a gag order secured by the University of Hong Kong to ban publication of information about its council, ahead of a hearing today that will see a journalists' group, a newspaper and a lawmaker apply to take part in arguing against the ban in the name of media freedom. Mr Justice Godfrey Lam Wan-ho spoke yesterday at a hearing where Commercial Broadcasting agreed to settle with the university and to be bound by an agreement not to publish further information about HKU's governing council, including any papers and minutes. The radio station also pledged not to air two leaked audio clips of a council discussion it had broadcast before. It undertook not to contest the terms that originated from an interim injunction order issued by another judge last Friday. But Lam, presiding over yesterday's session, wondered aloud about the possible impact of applying the order on parties other than Commercial Broadcasting. "My concern is that your claim results from a breach of confidence, and now you are seeking a perpetual injunction on all meetings, future, past and present," Lam told HKU counsel Clifford Smith SC. "I can see it's a little unusual." The court would leave it to any possible interested parties to argue today for curtailing or discharging the order, Lam said. The interim order, drafted by Mr Justice Conrad Seagroatt upon council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung's application, banned the station and "persons unknown" from publishing details about the council's business. The two recordings the station aired were believed to have been taken during a closed-door council meeting in September. After that meeting, Leong announced the council had voted down pro-democracy scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun's candidacy for a senior managerial post, but he declined to explain why. Critics said the move was politically motivated. READ MORE: 'Utmost stupidity': Academics blast HKU over Commercial Radio court order for leaked recording The Journalists Association, Chinese-language Apple Daily and HKU alumnus and education sector-lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said they would join the lawsuit today. Two HKU students were also expected to do so. "If granted, [the injunction] will set a daunting precedent for other public bodies to follow," the association said. The South China Morning Post had sent a legal letter to HKU's lawyers requesting that it be placed before the court to express its deep concern about the breadth of the terms of the injunction. "This, quite simply, cannot be right and is an inappropriate balance of the purported right to privacy of the council of your client against the freedoms of the press and the public in Hong Kong enshrined in the Basic Law," the letter said.