The Gujarat High Court has issued notice to Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) promoter Kumar Mangalam Birla and the company’s office-bearer Balesh Sharma, in response to a petition seeking suspension of the telecom service provider’s licence for allegedly failing to supply a telephone directory and itemised bill to its subscribers.
The petition was filed by Vadodara resident Vasudev Thakkar in 2023, seeking various directions from the High Court to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), including the suspension of the licence issued to the private telecom company. Thakkar has alleged that Vodafone Idea did not follow the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) mandate to provide an itemised bill to consumers and make a directory available to them, and claimed he made repeated requests to the service provider without success.
Before the court, the petitioner submitted that he made several representations to DoT authorities regarding the breach of licence terms and conditions, but that these went unheeded, prompting him to approach the High Court. Thakkar named Birla and Sharma as party respondents in their capacity as company office-bearers, along with the DoT secretary.
After hearing the petitioner, who argued his case in person, Justice H M Prachchhak issued notice to the respondents, making it returnable on 2 July 2026.
