Can’t do Charity at the Cost of others, High Court says while refusing plea seeking incoming services from Telcos

On Friday, the High Court of Delhi said Courts can't do charity at the cost of others while declining to entertain a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) & the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to ensure that operators do not block incoming services of subscribers during the Coronavirus pandemic “Telecom companies also need money. Courts cannot do charity at the cost of others,” the HC said.

Taking note of the observation by a Bench of Chief Justice D N Patel & Justice Prateek Jalan, the petitioner-law student decided not to press for the reliefs sought in his plea.

The Court said that “Petitioner is not pressing the writ petition. It is disposed of as not pressed".

The law student, Priyatam Bhardwaj, had contended in his petition that telecom companies’ action of blocking incoming calls & messages on account of failure to recharge subscription is causing grave hardship to people who cannot afford to spend money on that in the prevailing circumstances.

The plea said that “Forcing a person amid financial crunches to recharge their subscription out of limited resources they are left with in order to prevent the blocking of incoming calls & incoming messages causes grave prejudice to them".

The petitioner said he had made representations to the TRAI & the DoT in May with regard to not blocking incoming facilities on any mobile number during Coronavirus pandemic.

While no response was received from TRAI, the DoT said it will consider the proposal, but no steps have been taken till date, the petition had said.

The plea had also sought directions to the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio & Vodafone, to restore incoming services on numbers which they had blocked for non-payment of subscription during Coronavirus pandemic.

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