After High Court Nudge, Manipur Govt Forms Expert Panel To Explore Limited Internet Restoration By Blocking VPNs And Social Media

Following Manipur High Court's direction for limited internet service to public for urgent and essential services, the State government has constituted a 12-member expert committee to assess the feasibility of blocking VPN servers as a means to safely restore internet connectivity while maintaining restrictions on social media platforms.

Internet ban has been continuing in the State since May 3 due to violence in relation to a High Court direction to consider granting Scheduled Tribe status to Meitei community. Several orders extending the shutdown have been issued by the State government.

A bench of Justices Ahanthem Bimol Singh and A. Guneshwar Sharma requested the Committee to assess:

"a) Whether it is feasible to provide limited internet services to the public by blocking the social media websites/platforms to mitigate the hardship faced by the public on account of the total ban imposed by the State Government on providing internet services in the State of Manipur; b) Whether it is possible to block third party Private Virtual Network (PVN) servers to ensure providing of limited internet services to the public by blocking social media websites; c) Any other way or solution for providing limited internet service to the public by blocking the Social Media Websites/platforms."

Considering the issues raised in the matter, the Court found it appropriate to implead the Ministry of Telecommunication represented by the Secretary, Government of India as well as the Deputy Director General, Department of Telecommunication, Manipur as respondents.

The Committee is headed by Joint Director from the Department of Information Technology. It also comprises representatives from prominent telecom companies such as Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, Reliance/Jio, along with officials from the National Informatics Centre, the Department of Telecommunications, and the State E-Governance Mission Team.

The Court has instructed the committee to convene a meeting at the earliest and present its findings by the next hearing scheduled for July 6.

The court also directed all petitioners to provide a list of institutions and centers where computer-based examinations are conducted to the Home Department of the Manipur Government in order to facilitate students in the ongoing admission process by arranging internet services in these institutions/centers.

Case Title: Aribam Dhananjoy Sharma @ Paojel Chaoba & 2 ors Vs. State of Manipur & 4 ors.

Click Here To Read/Download Order