The Jharkhand High Court has directed the government not to suspend internet services in the State on grounds of conducting any examination.
On a special Sunday hearing, the Division Bench of Justice Ananda Sen and Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary observed that it found no material to suggest an ‘intelligence’ input to disrupt the entire internet facility in the state.
The High Court said that merely putting the words and phrases, such as public interest, adequate safety of students at large, or ensuring fair examination without any factual backing to arrive at the said conclusion, was not sufficient to shut down the entire internet services throughout the State.
It was now well-established that shutting down of internet facility amounted to the infringement of fundamental rights enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution, noted the Bench and ordered the state government to abide by the Court ruling.
The High Court directed the state government to elaborate on the provisions and policies under which the mobile internet services in the state were suspended.
The Division Bench passed the order on a petition filed by the Jharkhand State Bar Council challenging the state government’s decision to keep internet services suspended for six hours.
JSBC Chairman Rajendra Krishna wrote a letter to the High Court’s Registrar General in this connection.
Addressed to Acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, the letter apprised the High Court about the notification of the state government that internet services would remain suspended from 8 am to 1:30 pm on September 21 and 22, 2024 in Jharkhand due to the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam.
Based on the letter, the High Court took up the matter despite being a holiday and directed the government to file a response within four weeks. However, the Division Bench did not prohibit the government from suspending the internet service on September 22.
Arguing the matter, Krishna said the suspension of internet services affected commercial activities, including banking and transport.
If the state government intended to conduct five examinations in a month, would it suspend all internet services on the dates the exams were to be held, he asked.33