The Government would find a solution within two weeks to the menace of unsolicited calls received by users of mobile phones, the Supreme Court was informed on Monday.
Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam told a bench of judges Ruma Pal and Dalveer Bhandari that the Department of Telecommunications would call a meeting of all cellular service providers to find a solution to the problem.
Earlier the bench told Subramaniam: "You must find some solution as it is a serious problem."
The law officer agreed and said a solution would be found within two weeks.
Acting on a public suit filed by social activist Harsh Pathak the court had issued notice last year to the Centre, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd; cellular providers Hutch, Reliance Telecomm, IDEA Cellular and Bharti Telenet; as also Citibank, HSBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank seeking their response.
When the matter came up for hearing Monday, the petitioner contended that he and his family members were subscribers of various mobile phone companies. They were fed up with unsolicited telemarketing calls made to them on their cellular phones, by banking and other companies.
The petitioner submitted that lack of concern of the service providers towards the public in general and subscribers in particular in addressing this issue was affecting the fundamental rights of the petitioner and other citizens.
{{/usCountry}}The petitioner submitted that lack of concern of the service providers towards the public in general and subscribers in particular in addressing this issue was affecting the fundamental rights of the petitioner and other citizens.
{{/usCountry}}He submitted that like him and his family, other mobile phone subscribers would also be receiving unsolicited calls from banks, insurance companies, auto finance companies and others.
"No wonder practically every cell phone owner is getting paranoid about privacy. If telemarketing calls are today's scourge, it is only a matter of time before spam starts inundating cell phones," the petitioner maintained.
He sought a direction to cellular companies to check, regulate and end the endemic invasion of privacy of subscribers of the mobile telephony services; a direction to the companies to protect subscribers from the harassment and invasion of privacy through unsolicited telemarketing calls and any other business promotion calls; and to restrain cellular companies from transferring data about subscribers to any other company for commercial purposes.