SC refuses to interfere with Manipur HC order on restoration of internet

New Delhi [India]: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the order of the Manipur High Court which ordereLive indd limited restoration of the internet in the State.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra however, granted liberty to the State of Manipur to approach the High Court to apprise it of the the difficulties faced by it in implementing the Court’s order. The state government has approached the apex court against the High Court order.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Manipur government, told the bench that any rumour may ignite the issue in Manipur.

“Any rumour is likely to ignite the issue. The question of the internet, it’s sometimes open, sometimes not. Can it be left to the discretion of those on the ground,” Solicitor General said.

The bench said that High Court is seized with the matter, but if anything happens, the apex court is there to look into the issue.

CJI asked Mehta to approach the High Court and tell it what issues the State government is facing with regard to implementing the order in providing internet services.

The High Court has recently asked the State’s home department to allow internet access through Internet Leased Lines (ILL) for businesses and offices as well as consider providing broadband connectivity through Fibre to the Home (FTTH) for household use on a case-by-case basis.

The Manipur High Court has ordered physical trials for granting internet access to mobile numbers that are verified and cleared by the home department.

However, this should only be done after ensuring that all stakeholders have complied with the safeguards recommended by a 12-member expert committee appointed by the State government.

The committee proposed that internet services can be provided by all service providers in the state to a limited number of “whitelisted” mobile numbers, which would be specifically identified and furnished by the home department.

The service providers assured that internet access would be limited exclusively to these whitelisted numbers, with no possibility of leakage or utilisation by anyone other than the authorised user.

Based on these recommendations, the High Court ordered the State government to conduct physical trials to assess the feasibility of providing internet services to the whitelisted mobile phones while ensuring the security of the State and the safety of its citizens and their properties.

The order of the division bench of the High Court came while hearing multiple PILs seeking restoration of the Internet in the State.

The Internet services in Manipur have been suspended since May 3 when ethnic violence broke out in the State.