PIL says ISPs backtracked on bandwidth promised to goverment

Internet service providers (ISPs) who had dug up roads in TN on an agreement of providing the government with 2Mbps bandwidth for connecting districts to state headquarters through the Internet had failed to do so. The State had also not bothered to get its own order implemented, says a Public Interest Litigation moved in the High Court. 

Citing that 15 of the 20-year agreement had already lapsed, the PIL moved by a retired police officer J Mohanraj submitted that the failure of the Government in implementing its own order had cost the administration a loss of several hundred crores. 

The petitioner in his plea had also submitted that the laidback attitude of the Government speaks volumes about the inefficient and corrupt administration. For more than 15 years, the companies enjoyed the Government’s hospitality in laying OFC cables. But the firms cheated the people by not providing free connectivity as per the May 4, 2000 Government order. 

According to the order, the agencies using the ‘Right of Way’ for digging up roads to lay optical fibre cables, did not have to pay any charges to the Govt. This was done in a bid to promote the IT industry and e-commerce throughout the State in the year 2000. 

The order stated the road cutting was permitted with the key condition of providing 2 Mbps bandwidth for free. The First bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana directed the Government to consider the petitioner plea dated July 4, 2015 within a period of one month and file a compliance report in court.