Telecom tower damage: HC issues notice to Punjab, Centre on Reliance Jio plea

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Punjab and Union governments on a plea filed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) seeking action against miscreants damaging its telecom infrastructure and forcibly closing its stores.

Justice Sudhir Mittal issued notice of motion to the stakeholders and asked them to file their response on January 8.  In its petition, the RJIL had said that over 1,500 telecom towers were damaged or rendered inoperative by miscreants crippling its mobile network in Punjab. Responding to the contentions, Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda submitted the petitioner was itself admitting action for protection of its assets and added that the state has deployed 1019 patrolling parties in 27 districts and appointed 22 nodal officers to prevent further damage. He added that 1,300 towers are functioning.

The firm had sought directions for probe into the “well-orchestrated” and “sustained disinformation campaign” being carried out by vested interests and miscreants. Subscribers were compelled to port to other networks and the vandalism has also endangered lives of its employees, it said.