Internet ban: Govt told to bring technical expert
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 24 2023:
In connection with the various Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed at the Manipur High Court regarding the shutdown of inter net following the May 3 conflict, the court has directed the state government to send a technical expert to the court.
During a hearing of a bunch of PILs by the double bench of Manipur High Court Justices Ahanthem Bimol and A Guneshwar Sharma on June 23, after listening to the submissions of the counsels of various service providers.
and detailed examination of the materials on record, the court observed the need for involvement of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary, National Informatics Centre (NIC)Manipur State Informatics officer, commissioner/secretary representing the Department of Information Technology, Government of Manipur and the director of the Department, in discussing the issue.
It then directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary and NIC Manipur State Informatics officer to submit a list of functioning/operating virtual private network in the state by the next hearing.
It also directed mobile service providers (respondents) to submit a report by the next hearing on the feasibility of banning VPN services.
The court then sent notices to the newly admitted respondents to submit their responses by the next hearing on June 27.The counsels of the same accepted the notice.
Meanwhile, the court directed counsels of service providers and Department of Information Technology to bring a technical expert at the next hearing or enable the same to be present at the hearing through virtual mode.