Ahead of parliamentary polls, the political environment in the state once again comes to a boil. In anticipation of farmers’ call to protest in Delhi on March 13 for their demands, Haryana and the Central Government have made full preparations to stop the farmers from entering them. In this row, citing the need to maintain law and order, the Haryana government on Saturday announced the closure of internet services in seven districts of the state for 3 days. Before this, during the farmers’ movement, the state government shut down internet services from time to time in different districts. Amid this, a continuous discussion prevails as to how many days internet service can be kept closed in a state as per the rules. However, shutting down internet services causes a lot of problems for people of every section.
Meanwhile, about matters, Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate and expert Hemant Kumar said that based on public emergency or public safety, etc., telecommunication services, including mobile internet service, can be suspended in any area for a maximum of 15 days by the competent authority. Earlier, although there was no mention of the maximum time limit in this regard in the related rules, however, on 10 November 2020, the Telecom Temporary Service Suspension (Public Emergency or Public Security) Rules were issued through a gazette notification by the Department of Telecommunications (Telecom) under the Union Ministry of Communications. In 2017, a new rule 2A was amended and a maximum limit of 15 days was mentioned and this amendment became effective immediately.
Around Six and a half years ago, in August, 2017, the above 2017 rules were notified and implemented by the Central Government under Section 7 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, in which, as per the order issued by the Home Secretary of the Center and the State (who is the competent authority in this matter), emergency Under certain circumstances, telecom/internet service may be suspended in public interest. However, an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary of the Central Government, who has been authorized by the Union Home Secretary or the Home Secretary of the State, can also give such an order in unavoidable circumstances, however, it is necessary to get that order approved by the competent authority within 24 hours. Otherwise it will become ineffective. The reasons for suspending telecom/internet service should also be mentioned in such orders and a copy of these orders will have to be sent to the review committee.
A copy of the same will be forwarded to the designated officers of telecom companies and service providers only by an officer of SP rank of police or its equivalent. The Chairman of the Review Committee in the state will be the Chief Secretary and the members will be the Law Secretary (LR) and the Secretary of any other department of the State Government (other than Home). This review committee will meet within five days of the orders issued to ensure whether the suspension of telecom/internet services is in accordance with Section 5 (2) of the said 1885 law or not. It is pertinent to mention that by a special order issued by Haryana Home Secretary TVSN Prasad IAS on Saturday, 10 February 2024, in 7 districts of the state – Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad, from 11 February to 13 February i.e. for 72 hours. All types of mobile internet services including 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, CDMA, GPRS were suspended in view of the farmers’ protest, in which a march from Punjab to Delhi was scheduled on 13 February citing that miscreants and anti-social elements are likely spoil the peace and social harmony in the state by posting misleading and inflammatory messages, videos etc. on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc. and making them viral (spreading
It is noteworthy that when Dera Sachcha Sauda chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim was sentenced by Panchkula CBI Court, mobile internet service was suspended in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh for five days from August 25 to August 29. Then an RTI was filed on this subject in the Department of Telecommunications seeking information about the said rules. It was asked whether the telecom companies have been instructed by the Central Government to give pre-paid mobile phone customers that many additional days in their data plan for the number of days the mobile internet service will be suspended, but their RTI was dismissed by the Department of Telecommunications as terming the asked information confidential.