The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Tuesday issued a notice to the Punjab government and the Union home ministry on the petition filed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), seeking action against acts of vandalism of the company’s infrastructure and threatening of its employees by certain vested interests.
The HC asked the governments to respond by February 8, which is the next date of hearing.
RJIL on Monday had approached the HC against acts of vandalism by vested interests and business rivals in the name of farmers’ agitation, which had resulted in damage to mobile towers and forced shutting down of Jio centres. The company has made Punjab government through its chief secretary, Union home ministry and the telecom department as respondents in the case.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda submitted before the court that the state government has deployed 1,019 patrol parties and 22 nodal officers to assess the damage to Jio mobile towers and protect them. Solicitor General of India Satyapal Jain represented the Central government in court.
The write petition filed by RJIL had said, “Vested interests inimical to the petitioner and its parent company, Reliance Industries Limited, and its affiliates with a view to advancing their own interests and agendas are actively engaged in spreading false rumours to the effect that Reliance and affiliates are somehow the beneficiary of the recent legislation passed by Parliament governing marketing of agricultural produce.”
Dispelling rumours that RIL is placed to benefit from the three farm reform laws passed by the Central government, the conglomerate on Monday had said it has no plans of entering the contract or the corporate farming business, and it has never bought agricultural land for corporate farming or contract farming and had no plans to do so in the future as well.
In a statement, RIL said it does not purchase food grains directly from farmers, and its suppliers buy from farmers only at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) level. It also clarified that it had never entered into any long-term procurement contracts at low prices, or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices.
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