With BSNL announcing the death of the 160-year-old telegraph from July 15, a so-called telegram lover, but seeking cheap and easy publicity filed a public interest litigation in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court seeking a stay on the decision. A division bench of justices Paul N Vasanthakumar and P Devadoss directed the Central government advocate to get instructions and posted the case for hearing today.
Seeking the court's intervention to stay the order of BSNL deciding to discontinue the iconic telegram service, the petitioner highlighted the various important roles played by telegram. The petitioner is the president of the Federation of Consumer and Service Organizations challenged BSNL's contention that there are no users of the telegram, alleging the service alone had faced step-motherly treatment.
If BSNL felt that it could not run the service, it could as well hand over the service to the postal department which was handling it efficiently from 1850 to 1990. Another petitioner also filed a PIL with the same prayers on the issue. The petitioner wanted the telegraph service to be continued at affordable rates. According to a recent circular by Bharat Sanchar Nigam, the telegraph services will be discontinued from July 15.
