Manipur HC Directs State Govt to Devise Ways to Restore Internet Services

The Manipur High Court has directed the state government to discover ways to provide mobile internet services to people, reports said on Saturday.

As per reports, the court was hearing a batch of pleas filed by various parties seeking restoration of mobile services which were blocked after violence broke out in Manipur.

A bench of Justice Ahanthem Bimol Singh and Justice A Guneshwar Sharma “directed that the state authorities, specially the home department should consider for devising mechanism/methods for providing internet services through mobile phones by whitelisting the mobile numbers on case to case basis and in a phase-wise manner.”

The state's counsel also submitted that the Manipur Government had earlier earlier, issued necessary orders lifting the ban on providing internet through broadband services (ILL & FTTH) in a liberalized manner.

According to a report submitted by the service providers, there is no data leakage to any other numbers which are not white listed. The next hearing on the matter will take place on August 31.

Last month, The Supreme Court of India had declined to interfere with the Manipur High Court’s order directing the state government to restore limited internet in the state. A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra heard the plea filed by the Manipur Government challenging the Manipur High Court order which allowed the restoration of internet in the State in a limited manner.

Also Read: SC Denies to Interfere With Manipur HC Order on Internet Restoration in State