On October 17, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and Jammu & Kashmir administration in response to a plea for restoring Internet services in the Union Territory as ongoing restrictions have impacted online education. The petitioner is a non-profit society called Private Schools Association J&K that represents “the interests of over 3800 member schools” in the Union Territory, according to the petition. The apex court’s judgment in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India in 2020,  categorically held that Internet suspensions were permitted for limited periods.

As per the petitioner, prolonged use of the extraordinary power to disrupt Internet services for the entire population of a region was in violation of the 2020 judgment. The petitioner submitted that despite the apex court’s ruling, there had been frequent disruptions and withdrawal of Internet services since December 11, 2020. This year alone, four separate orders to restrict Internet were issued by the J&K home department on June 10, June 11, September 10, and October 3, the petition said.

“There have been orders which are regularly being passed by the Union Territory which are in violation of the Anuradha Bhasin principles. Meanwhile, a lot of teaching that is happening, even today, is a mix of online and physical classes. That is the reality of Jammu and Kashmir”, said Advocate Shadan Farasat, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner society.

The bench stated that a  Special committee had been constituted which was directed to look into the necessity of continuous internet services. The Bench at the end orally pronounced the order to issue notice, asking for responses from the respondents impleaded in the petition, including the Home Department of the government of  Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The bench comprised Justices B.R. Gavai and B. Nagarathna who posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.