HC seeks Centre, Punjab replies on Reliance petition against vandalism

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday issued notice to the Punjab government and the Centre on a plea by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday issued notice to the Punjab government and the Centre on a plea by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited seeking action against vandals damaging its network infrastructure and commercial properties in Punjab.

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The company’s counsel, Ashish Chopra, said the high court had sought responses from the Punjab administration and the Centre by February 8.

Reliance Jio, in its petition, alleged that business rivals with vested interests were taking advantage of the ongoing farmers’ protests and damaging its infrastructure in Punjab. The petition said 1,500 telecom towers operated by Jio in Punjab had been vandalised, crippling the mobile network in Punjab, where the company has 14 million subscribers.

Subscribers are compelled to port to other networks, the plea said, adding that the acts of vandalism had also endangered the lives of thousands of its employees.

Jio’s parent company, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), and its retail arms or affiliates have “no interest and does not intend in future to do corporate or contract farming,” according to the petition. RIL and its retail arms have not purchased any agricultural land directly or indirectly for the purpose of farming, it said.

Underscoring that Jio and RIL have the greatest regard for the hard work of farmers, the petition added that RIL and its affiliates have never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain “unfair advantage over” farmers or their produce.

Reliance Jio filed the petition on Monday seeking a direction to the government authorities in the state and at the Centre to protect its communication infrastructure as well as ensure the safety of its employees.

The plea claims it had been targeted in Punjab because those with “vested interests” were taking advantage of the farmers’ agitation against the recently enacted agricultural laws.

Jio also sought the appointment of a competent authority to assess the damages to be recovered from the vandals in the context of a judgment by the Supreme Court that rioters must be made to pay for the destruction of properties.

“The destruction has been done in a well orchestrated manner, which is result of a sustained disinformation campaign being carried out by vested interests,” said the plea, demanding that adequate security arrangements be made to stop the vandalism of its infrastructure.

Telecom infrastructure owned by the company has been targeted in parts of Punjab by protesters who have alleged that the new farm laws were meant to benefit certain corporate houses at the cost of farmers. The laws change the way India’s farmers do business by creating free markets as opposed to a network of government marketplaces, allowing traders to stockpile essential commodities for future sales, and laying down a national framework for contract farming.

In response to submissions, state’s advocate general, Atul Nanda said that the company itself has admitted that the action has been taken to protect its assets. “The government has deployed 1019 patrolling parties in 22 districts and has appointed 22 nodal officers to ensure that no further damage is caused. The state is carrying out the duty enjoined upon it by the various statutes. ..the impact of the agitation on 1300 affected towers has been removed and they are now functioning,” Nanda told the court adding that the task of the state agencies would become easier, if the petitioner was to share information regarding the alleged vested interest involved.

These laws are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.

Farmers say the laws will make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations, erode their bargaining power and weaken the procurement system, whereby the government buys staples such as wheat and rice at guaranteed prices