High Court stays Bengal govt’s suspension of telecom services: HC asked the govt to issue a separate notification declaring that the telecom services would be available

A public interest litigation was moved before the high court last week challenging the legality of the order

Tapas Ghosh   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  11.03.22 :  Calcutta High Court on Thursday stayed the Bengal government’s suspension of telecom services across the state between 7am and 3.15pm from March 7 to 16.

According to government sources, the additional chief secretary of state home and hill affairs department on March 3 ordered the temporary suspension of telecom services to stop malpractices in the ongoing Madhyamik examination.

The order was stayed by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava.

A public interest litigation was moved before the high court last week challenging the legality of the order. The petitioner’s counsel claimed that at present, everyone was fully dependent on the Internet and the suspension of the telecom services would paralyse the system.

Hearing the plea, the Chief Justice said normal life would collapse if the order was carried out. He remarked that Internet services were required even to book a cab.

The division bench had on Wednesday asked the government to file an affidavit stating its view on the temporary suspension of the telecom services.

On Thursday, the bench stayed the operation of the order and asked the government to issue a separate notification declaring that the telecom services would be available.

The court also said the government and its education department had the liberty to introduce any other measures to stop unfair practices during exams.