E-Paper
High court refuses to hear plea against telecom shutdown
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea challenging the telecom shutdown in the national capital four hours on December 19.
The court also declining to pass any order in another plea for recovering of damages for the destruction of public property from the persons concerned during the anti-CAA protests in the national capital.
A bench of chief justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar refused to entertain the PIL after additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Centre, told the court the disruption was only for four hours on December 19.
The court noted that the disruption was for a brief period and if any individual had suffered losses, then he can approach the court in his own capacity. The bench, while declining to entertain the matter, said the petitioner can file a suit for damages if he has suffered any loss due to the disruption.
The petition had contended that the order prohibiting telecom services in Delhi was issued by a deputy commissioner of police and not the secretary, ministry of home affairs (MHA) who is the competent authority to issue such a direction under the relevant rules.
The court also refused to pass any order on damage to property. BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay urgently mentioned the matter before the bench seeking directions to the authorities to recover damages for destruction of public and private property during the protests from those responsible.
Upadhyay urged the court to either take suo moto cognizance of the matter or allow him to file an application in a pending matter listed for February 4.
But the court declined to entertain the matter and said that he was free to file an application that shall be listed in the normal course.
Upadhyay, a lawyer, told the court that thousands of crores of property, including public transport, had been damaged in the protests and the amount should be recovered from those responsible as it was being done in UP.
