KATHMANDU, AUGUST 1
A 22-year-old law student of Chakrabarti HaBi Education Academy College of Law, Kathmandu has sued an internet service provider for poor connection.
Jitendra Yadav, a permanent resident of Birgunj Metropolitan City-32, filed a petition against CG Communications Ltd (CGNET) at the Kathmandu District Court (KDC) on July 29.
The petitioner has filed a lawsuit under the Section 672 of the Civil Code 2017, seeking compensation of Rs 200,000 from the CGNET for the losses incurred due to disrupted internet service for five days.
"The net connectivity was quite patchy for the last three months but the internet was completely down for five days after July 19," Yadav told The Himalayan Times.
"I was compelled to seek legal recourse after the three companies that I'd been working for were slapped with huge penalties for being unable to submit the statements and details due to the internet disruption."
The petitioner has also accused the internet service provider of deleting his internet database during this period.
"The CGNET has to contest the case within 36 days after receiving the legal notice,"
Deepak Dahal, information officer at the KDC, informed.
"Even if the CGNET won't contest the case, there will be a hearing."
Meanwhile, the cellphone of Madhusudan Paudel, corporate communications general manager of CG, was switched off.
Surya Prasad Lamichhane, deputy director of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), and KDC's Dahal said that they had never heard of this kind of case being brought to court in Kathmandu. Dahal said that he was, however, aware of a similar case in which Nepal Telecom was sued outside the valley.
The petitioner said he was baffled to realise that nobody had filed such a case in the capital city. "But during my research I found out about a lawsuit filed against NTC by an advocate seeking Rs 25,000 for service disruption for two hours, in which the court awarded him a compensation of Rs 15,000."
Yadav said he then filed his case based on that precedent.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 2, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
