RAJESHWARI KATOCH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is an Advocate of this Court and has apparent interest to ensure that public authorities act in accordance with the Constitution and law. Her endeavor to achieve general welfare of the people through implementation of various provisions of Statutes has been brought to forefront by filing numerous Public Interest Litigations.

(2.) The present Public Interest Litigation is inspired by the activities of the cable operators for digitalization of Cable Television Services. According to the allegations made in various paras of the petition, the cable operators are misusing the newly added Section 4A of the Cable Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 ( for brevity 'the Act') by forcing their subscribers to switch over to Cable Digitalization by purchasing a Set-top box which is priced at Rs.1200/-. The amount of Rs. 500/- is to be deposited in advance by March 15, 2013. The balance amount is to be paid at the time of installation of Set-top box. In that regard, reliance has been placed on a notice issued by the cable operators Take One JK Media Ltd and Space Communication Network-respondent nos. 5 and 6 respectively (Annexure C).

(3.) The grievances set up by the petitioner can be summed up as follows.