Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court on Sunday directed the state government to immediately and forthwith restore internet services which were disrupted in the state. A division bench of Justices Ananda Sen and Anubha Rawat Choudhary also ordered the state government to henceforth not suspend internet services for any examination without the prior leave of the court.
Home Secretary Vandana Dadel, who was earlier asked by the court to appear before it in person, produced the file and standard operating procedures under which the notification was issued for the suspension of internet services for conducting the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination (JGGLCCE).
The file produced by Dadel was taken into the custody of the court and handed over to the registrar general to keep it in safe custody. A photocopy of the file was ordered to be handed over to the home secretary. Jharkhand State Bar Council chairman Rajendra Krishna brought to the information of court that the government has modified its notification and suspended all internet services from 4 am to 3.30 pm on September 22.
This information has been circulated by some of the telecom service providers through messages to their customers, Krishna said. Earlier, the government had on September 21 informed the court that only the mobile data of consumers was suspended for a short duration to conduct the JGGLCCE.
However, the government superseded its own notification and disrupted the entire internet services, which included broadband connectivity based on fixed telecom lines, FTTH and leased lines for the entire state, Krishna informed the court. The period of suspension now has also been changed from 4.00 am to 3.30 pm on September 22.
The period of suspension was from 8 am to 1.30 pm on September 21. The court had requested the presence of a responsible officer of BSNL Ranchi and other internet service providers like Bharti Airtel and JIO. BSNL general manager Sanjiv Verma appeared in court and submitted that BSNL got a message from the Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Prison and Disaster Management Vandana Dadel, whereby they were directed to block the entire internet service including the fixed line, FTTH, and leased lines from 8 am to 1.30 pm including mobile internet and mobile data services for September 22.
Additional Advocate General Sachin Kumar informed the court that some intelligence inputs were received by the government on September 21 night and countering the threat, internet services were cut off. The bench observed that the court did not pass any interim order on September 21 against the government as it was made to understand that there was only a partial internet shutdown.
But on Sunday, it was clarified by the telecom authorities that a complete internet shutdown was ordered by the government, the court said. "This subsequent action of the state amounts to overreaching the judicial order passed by this court on September 21, more so when the writ petition is still pending. This is a fraud played on this court and is a deceitful action," the court said.
The high court had on Saturday directed the state government to respond to a petition, mentioning under which provisions and policies internet services in the state were suspended for several hours during the day. The opposition BJP in Jharkhand has termed the state government order to suspend mobile internet services for five hours on Saturday and Sunday in view of the competitive exam as another "decree" to hide its "failed" system.
