Nagpur: Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Friday issued notices to the union government, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and all the leading mobile service providers, in response to a PIL against ceiling of 100 SMSes a day.
TRAI recently barred all mobile service providers from permitting more than 100 SMSes per day from a single mobile number. The PIL, filed by District Bar Association (DBA) President Sudeep Jaiswal, says this is a breach of fundamental rights. According to the petitioner, the restriction is unreasonable, the number (100 per day) is inadequate, and it overlooks the mobile usage by common people.
SMS is "a non-intrusive, convenient and cheap mode of communication posing least health hazard", the petitioner says. Citing his personal example, Jaiswal says that he uses SMS to communicate with 6,000 members of DBA, and is feeling handicapped because of the restriction.
In an attempt to curb commercial and unwarranted messages, the ordinary message senders have become victims, the PIL contends. It also states that SMS saves paper, while the restriction would encourage talking on mobile phone, which is detrimental to health because of "high frequency wave radiation".The next hearing would be after Diwali vacations.