Supreme Court restores 200 SMS cap limit
5 Dec 2012 5:22 AM IST
The Supreme Court stayed telecom tribunal TDSAT’s order, which had quashed the sector regulator TRAI’s circular limiting the number of SMSes to 200 per day per sim.
In a brief hearing, a bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi stayed the tribunal’s order and issued notice to late Bal Thackeray’s grandson Aditya on whose plea TDSAT had passed the order. The apex court passed the order on an appeal filed by TRAI challenging tribunal’s order and asked Thackeray to respond to regulator’s plea within six weeks. With Monday’s stay order, the sector regulator can enforce the circular till the apex court vacates its stay on the verdict by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.
TDSAT had on 17 July termed the ceiling on SMSes as ‘arbitrary’ and against the right of freedom of speech.
Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya had submitted that the restriction on SMSes was just a ‘non-application of mind’ and the circular fixing ceiling ‘has not explained why and how the figure of 100/200 SMS(s) per day was arrived at.’
TRAI had permitted sending only 100 SMSes per day per SIM except on blackout days or days specially notified by it. However, on November 1, 2011, it had increased the limit to 200 SMSes per day, per SIM.
In a brief hearing, a bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi stayed the tribunal’s order and issued notice to late Bal Thackeray’s grandson Aditya on whose plea TDSAT had passed the order. The apex court passed the order on an appeal filed by TRAI challenging tribunal’s order and asked Thackeray to respond to regulator’s plea within six weeks. With Monday’s stay order, the sector regulator can enforce the circular till the apex court vacates its stay on the verdict by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.
TDSAT had on 17 July termed the ceiling on SMSes as ‘arbitrary’ and against the right of freedom of speech.
Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya had submitted that the restriction on SMSes was just a ‘non-application of mind’ and the circular fixing ceiling ‘has not explained why and how the figure of 100/200 SMS(s) per day was arrived at.’
TRAI had permitted sending only 100 SMSes per day per SIM except on blackout days or days specially notified by it. However, on November 1, 2011, it had increased the limit to 200 SMSes per day, per SIM.
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