The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked for a statusreport on restoration of 4G services after it was informed thatnon-availability of high-speed Internet was hampering studies of students whowere confined to their homes because of the lockdown to curb coronavirus cases.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal passedthese directions after hearing amicus curiae Monika Kholi on a Public InterestLitigation.
Justice Mittal has been regularly reviewing the responses ofthe administrations of JK and Ladakh in tackling the coronavirus situation. Shehas been holding regular video-conference hearings with all stakeholdersinvolved in the fight against COVID-19.
During the video-conference held on Friday, Kohli made avehement submission that on account of non-availability of the 4G services, thestudents in the Union Territories were unable to access the educational coursesbeing sent by institutions.
The noted lawyer drew attention of the court that allcolleges and schools on the directions of the universities and CBSE wereproviding study material and classes online but students of the two unionterritories could not access or even download the files due to lack of highspeed Internet.
Because of this, Kohli said, the students would lag behindcompared to those from the rest of the country and urged for immediaterestoration of 4G Internet.
Additional Solicitor General Vishal Sharma informed thecourt that this issue is under consideration before the Supreme Court in a PILfiled by the ‘Foundation for Media Professionals’ and a notice has been issuedby the apex court.
However, after hearing the issue, the division bench, thatalso comprised Justice Rahnesh Oswal, asked the home secretaries of the boththe union territories to submit a status report before the court.
The CBSE, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan and other schoolboards and universities have began holding online classes for its students fromearlier this month.