Can a service provider re-allot to a third-party, a cellphone number allotted to a subscriber and recovered by police for investigation on a complaint from the subscriber alleging receipt of obscene messages from the service provider?
Raising this question, advocate V S Suresh of Thambu Chetty Street moved a civil court in Chennai for a declaration that the number assigned to him by Bharathi Airtel Ltd in Santhome belonged to him ever since the date of assignment.
As the company started sending unwanted messages, he lodged a complaint with Airtel to stop it. As the company continued to send the messages, he moved the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate for action against the company. A vacation judge attached to the City Civil Court ordered notice to Bharathi Airtel Limited on May 24 last.