New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking a direction for regulation of Internet prices in the country. The matter was heard by a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar.
During the hearing, the bench observed that it is a free market, and added "There are several options. BSNL and MTNL are also giving you Internet". The bench was hearing a plea filed by one Rajat. The bench pointed out that consumers had multiple options for availing Internet services.
The petitioner claimed that though other options are available but majority of the market share was controlled by Jio, Reliance. The petitioner claimed that one company controls 80 per cent of the market share.
The bench then said, "If you are alleging cartelisation, then go to the Competition Commission of India." After a brief hearing on the matter, the bench said it was not willing to entertain the petition. “We are not inclined to entertain the present petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, the petition is dismissed….”, said the bench. However, the top court made it clear that if the petitioner wanted to take any recourse to appropriate statutory remedy, he was at liberty to do so.
