SC notice to cellular operators and banks on unsolicited calls

New Delhi: Finding merit in a plea against waiver of fine on mobile service providers and certain banks for unsolicited calls and text messages, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to them.


On a petition filed by one Nivedita Sharma, a Bench comprising Justices V S Sirpurkar and Cyriac Joseph sought to know whether telecom companies and banks ought to be penalised for the harassment suffered by unsuspecting customers who were deluged with unsolicited telemarketing calls and messages on their mobile phones.
The court issued notices in this regard to Cellular Operators Association of India, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and American Express Bank seeking their response in eight weeks.
Petitioner’s counsel Yakesh Anand said unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), which included text messages as well as calls, had become a nuisance for mobile phone users as telemarketers had no regard for the ‘do not call’ register.
The State Consumer Commission in Delhi had responded positively to Sharma's concern. The commission imposed an exemplary fine of Rs 50 lakh on the telecom companies and Rs 25 lakh on the private banks. It further ordered a compensation of Rs 50,000 to be paid to Sharma on account of the mental harassment suffered by her.
But on an appeal by the telecom companies, the Delhi High Court on January 15 had set aside the costs, thereby taking away deterrent effect of the commission’s order.
The commission had dealt with the case in great detail by ordering the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to put in place a ‘do not call’ register and bring in a number portability rule.
But the HC faulted the commission order stating that it had overstepped its jurisdiction. Challenging the HC direction, Sharma stated that the HC failed to take note of the fact that the SC in a PIL had been asking the telecom companies to maintain strict guard against disturbing customers with unsolicited calls. But despite court's monitoring, the menace was still prevalent.