The Manipur High Court has constituted a 12-member expert committee to look into the possibility of blocking VPN servers so that the State’s internet access can be restored safely while still maintaining restrictions on social media websites.
A Division Bench of Justices Ahanthem Bimol Singh and A. Guneshwar Sharma was hearing a batch of PILs seeking restoration of internet access on Tuesday, when it directed the constitution of the panel.
An internet shutdown has been imposed in the State since May 3, when ethnic violence broke out between the dominant Meitei community and the Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zomi community. The violence has continued for almost two months.
Expert panel
The court, which is exploring ways to restore the Internet, first sought options to block social media websites. When the government and internet service providers submitted that this would still leave many consumers using VPN or virtual private network services to access blocked sites, the court sought ways to block VPN servers as well.
On Tuesday, the Manipur Government submitted that it had already compiled a list of experts to be in such a committee. Reviewing this, the court then finalised the committee, which is to be chaired by a Joint Director of the Department of Information Technology in the Government of Manipur.
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Other members include representatives from telcos — Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, Reliance/Jio, two officers of the National Informatics Centre in Manipur, one representative of the Department of Telecommunications, one representative of the State E-Governance Mission Team, and two more officers from the IT Department of the State Government.
Aiding students
The court directed the committee to convene at the earliest and submit a report to it by the next date of hearing on July 6. The committee is expected to weigh in on whether it is possible to restore internet access with a ban on social media websites. It has also been directed to find out whether it is possible to block VPN services in order to effectively block social media websites and to bring forward any other options to restore internet access with an effective block on social media websites.
In addition, the court directed all petitioners to submit a list of institutions and centres where computer-based examinations such as NEET and CUET are held to the Home Department of the Government of Manipur “so that the State Government can arrange for providing internet services in those institutions/centers to facilitate the students in the ongoing admission process”.
The high court on Tuesday also impleaded the Union Government’s Ministry of Telecommunication and the Manipur Government’s Department of Telecommunication in this batch of PILs and asked their representatives to join the proceedings.
