Plea before Punjab & Haryana High Court seeks access to publicly available Wi-Fi when government suspends mobile data

The Punjab and Haryana High Court sought the response of the Punjab government and the Central government in a petition seeking provision for alternative means to access internet through publicly available Wi-Fi or broadband when mobile-data services are suspended by the State [Neeraj v State of Punjab]..Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj issued notice in the petition and listed it for hearing on August 8."Notice of motion. Mr. Saurav Verma, Addl. A.G. Punjab appears and accepts notice on behalf of respondent No.1 and Mr. Dheeraj Jain, Senior Counsel, Government of India appears and accepts notice on behalf of respondent No.2-Union of India and prays for some time to complete instructions and to file response," the order said..The petitioner stated that suspension of mobile internet services only have an adverse, disproportionate, and discriminatory impact on a particular section of citizenry whose sole means to access the internet is through mobile data services."Petitioner, and other similarly situated persons, are the worst-affected individuals when the State decides 4 to suspend only mobile-data services as the State of Punjab did in March, 2023.".It was argued that such persons' access to the internet stands absolutely prohibited, in stark discrimination to those who access the internet via fixed-line broadband or Wi-Fi services. Therefore, there was a breach of the fundamental rights of citizens such as the petitioner."On the face of it, because one set of citizens such as the Petitioner suffer an absolute prohibition of their fundamental right, while another set of citizens enjoy a reasonably restricted fundamental right," the petition said. The plea further underscored that such an alternative provision becomes a part of the constitutionally mandated “fair, just and reasonable” procedure established and required under the law..Hence, the petitioner also prayed for a declaration that recent orders suspending mobile data services in the State violated his fundamental right to access the internet as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the case of Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India.The plea additionally prayed for the reading down of the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules to the extent that they empower authorities to violate fundamental rights..Advocates Abhijeet Singh Rawaley, Ashutosh Dhankar, and Sahil Mehndiratta appeared for the petitioner. Additional Advocate General Saurav Verma, Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain, and Senior Advocate Dheeraj Jain appeared for the respondents. .[Read Order]