A Division Bench of A.P. High Court comprising acting Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Vilas Afzul Purkar on Thursday extended the interim orders for the installation of Set Top Boxes (STB), to April 30, a day prior to the summer vacations of the Court that start from May 1.
The installation of STBs were made mandatory by the Central government from April 1.
The bench wanted a full-fledged affidavit from the Centre giving details about the number of STBs available in the market, the quality, the price and how much the consumers were asked to pay for its installation.
The interim orders are extended till the next date of hearing which was fixed one day prior to the summer vacation that starts from May 1.
Public interest petition
The bench had entertained the public interest petition filed by Chalasani Narendra, senior reporter and rights activist in this issue.
The bench on an earlier occasion had restrained the officers from revenue and police departments from taking any coercive steps in the name of implementation of the new rule that made STBs mandatory.
Communication
The counsel for the petitioner on Thursday brought to the notice of the court the communication sent by the Joint Collector, Hyderabad, the nodal officer to implement digitalisation wherein he had requested the Central government to extend time for three more months.
