Justice Anil Dev Singh has issued the notice returnable on December 9 on a petition filed by Arun Mehta, managing director of Delhi-based Indata Com Pvt Ltd. The petition states that the alleged action of VSNL has prevented the petitioner, a software professional, from accessing the sites of several companies providing Internet telephony software tools outside the country, either on the World Wide Web (WWW) or through electronic mail (e-mail).

Though telephony on the net is not legalised in the country, denial of access by VSNL to sites of companies providing software and hardware for Net telephony is preventing Indian software professionals from keeping up with global developments and developing quality software in this field, the petition states. The petition further argues that Internet telephony was the cheapest and fastest way to provide basic telecom services and enjoys a phenomenal growth rate worldwide.

Citing an instance of inconvenience caused to subscribers due to inaccessibility of sites, Mehta said when an E-mail was sent to one of the companies, it was traced until Mumbai after which it vanished. The petition said VSNL had repeatedly evaded specific answers to the petitioner's queries regarding the issue and had "replied as if access to certain websites was synonymous with Internet telephony."

"Meanwhile, VSNL has announced it was experimenting with Net telephony and fax services in Mumbai which makes it clear that the ban on Internet telephony and blocking of related websites is wholly based upon VSNL's anxiety to preserve its monopoly," the petition said.

With appropriate software that can be downloaded free on the Internet, users can talk to each other anywhere in the world at no additional cost, the petitioner said.