Rajasthan High Court seeks State government response in PIL against frequent internet shutdowns in Udaipur

The Jodhpur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the validity of 'frequent and wanton' suspension of internet services in Udaipur [Udaipur Chamber of Commerce & Industry v The State of Rajasthan]..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Madan Gopal Vyas sought the response of the State government that sought a declaration that 24 recent orders suspending internet services were illegal.The petition also sought a direction to the respondents to immediately publish all orders suspending internet services under the Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules..The plea placed reliance on the judgment in Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India, which held that internet shutdowns can be resorted to only as a drastic measure to be adopted in exceptional circumstances.It was stated that since this judgment, to the best of the petitioners’ knowledge, at least 26 orders were issued restricting internet for about 506 hours in the Udaipur Division..The orders were issued with the aim of preventing cheating and other law and order concerns during examinations or in response to protests.The petitioners emphasised that they along with others suffered irreparable economic loss due to the shutdowns..Attention was drawn to the fact that these orders were not even published by the respondent and were obtained by a digital liberties organisation, the Internet Freedom Foundation, by way of right to information (RTI) applications..The petition also highlighted an earlier petition before the High Court titled Dhirendra Singh Rajpurohit v State of Rajasthan, by which internet shutdowns during examinations in Jodhpur, were challenged.During the proceedings, the respondents had given an undertaking thatthe Home Department had directed all Divisional Commissioners in the State not to suspend internet during exams. Based on this affirmation, the High Court had then disposed of the plea.The petitioners have, therefore, contended that the suspension orders issued subsequent to that, were in contempt of court..Advocate Manish Shishodia appeared for the petitioners.