Ranchi, Sep 10 — Taking a serious view of the disruption of internet services in several areas of Ranchi during a drive to remove the web of internet and cable wires from electricity poles, the Jharkhand High Court has sought responses from all internet service providers and directed the immediate restoration of affected connections.
Hearing a public interest litigation registered suo motu on Thursday, a division bench of Chief Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar asked the service providers to furnish details on the dates when connections were disconnected, the areas affected, the number of connections severed, and the number of services restored so far.
The bench also directed them to submit a compliance report after restoring the disrupted services.
During the hearing on Thursday, senior officials of the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL), including CMD Srinivasan, along with representatives of BSNL, Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, appeared before the court in person.
The bench sought a status report from all telecom operators regarding the disruption and restoration of internet services.
The court observed that internet services for citizens could not remain disrupted indefinitely due to the ongoing exercise to remove cables from electric poles.
In an oral observation, the bench remarked that a "misunderstanding" of the court’s order had caused unnecessary inconvenience to the public.
The High Court also expressed strong displeasure over the conduct of BSNL Chief General Manager (CGM) Vipul Agrawal.
In connection with allegations that he spoke inappropriately to a High Court official over a phone call, the bench directed him to submit an unconditional written apology by September 14.
During the proceedings, counsels representing BSNL and Jio informed the court that the internet line serving the High Court had already been restored. They also assured the bench that internet connectivity for public utility services and private consumers affected by the drive would be restored at the earliest.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on September 16.