Steps to stop unsolicited tele-mktg calls: Govt

The central government today informed the Supreme Court that it would come out with a solution to prevent unsolicited calls on mobile phones relating to tele-marketing within two weeks.

A statement to this effect was made by Additional Solicitor General  (ASG) Gopal Subramanian before a bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice Dalveer Bhandari.

The bench accepted the centre's request for two weeks on the issue after recording ASG's submision that steps have been taken to prevent the menace of unsolicited calls from tele-marketers.

The bench was informed that authorities had held discussions with telecom service providers, and they were co-operating to evolve a solution.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Harsh Pathak seeking a law to ban unsolicted calls on mobile phones from various banks for loans or credit cards.

The court had sought responses from the law and justice ministry, MTNL, cellular operators like Hutch, Reliance Infocomm, Idea Cellular and Bharti and banks like Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

The petition had contended that unsolicited calls for a loan, credit card or even a new connection amounted to "endemic invasion of privacy of the subscribers of mobile telephony at all times and hours", and seriously impaired the fundamental rights of citizens.