Soibal Gupta vs Prime Ministers Office & Anr

D.N. Patel, CJ

C.M.No.5371/2021 (exemptions)

Allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

The application is disposed of.

LPA 58/2021 & CM APPL. 5372/2021 (permission to argue in person)

This appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 12th January, 2021 (Annexure A-1 to the memo of this appeal) passed by the

learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) 400/2021 which was dismissed.

The prayer in the writ petition reads as under:

“a. Issue a writ in the nature of quo warranto asking the Respondents under what provision of law did they subscribe my email ID to the

newsletters without my consent and where did they get my email ID from?

b. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents to pay a symbolic compensation of ₹100 each and tender an apology

for harvesting my email ID to send unsolicited emails.

c. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents to unsubscribe all the email IDs whose owners have not given their

consent to receive the newsletters.

d. Pass such other or further orders as may deem fit and proper.â€​

The aforesaid writ petition has been decided by the learned Single Judge vide judgment and order dated 12th January, 2021, particularly paras 2, 3, 4

and 5 read as under:

“2. The short grievance of the Petitioner is that he is receiving unsolicited e-mails from various authorities of the Government including

the NTA, the PMO and other agencies, in respect of various schemes floated by the Government.

Mr. Sharma, ld. ASG submits that the Petitioner can unsubscribe from the e-mail. He also submits that the Ministry of Electronics and

Information Technology (hereinafter, ‘MEITY’) has created an e-mail ID, being sampark.support@gov.in, in order to ensure that

those persons who do not wish to receive such e-mails can unsubscribe.

Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of directing the Petitioner to write to sampark.support@gov.in in order to ensure that no

further unsolicited e-mails are received by him. Upon the said e-mail being sent, the Respondents shall ensure that no unsolicited e-mails are

sent to the Petitioner.

With these observations, the present petition is disposed of. All pending applications are also disposed of.

In view of the facts of the present case and arguments pressed before the learned Single Judge that he was receiving unsolicited e-mails from

various authorities of the Government in respect of various schemes floated by the Government, it appears that this appellant is annoyed by receiving

such unsolicited e-mails.

At this juncture, a submission has been made by learned Additional Solicitor General that a simple mechanism to stop receiving unsolicited e-mails

from various Government authorities is to “unsubscribeâ€​ from those mails.

Learned Single Judge in paras 3, 4 and 5 of the order dated 12th January, 2021 has appreciated the aforesaid submission. We are in agreement with

the reasons given by the learned Single Judge vide judgment and order dated 12th January, 2021 passed in W.P.(C) 400/2021. The simple mechanism

available with this appellant (original petitioner) to unsubscribe e-mails which can be done by this appellant. Hence, no error has been committed by

the learned Single Judge in deciding W.P.(C) 400/2021 and hence there is no substance in this appeal and the same is therefore dismissed. Pending

application also stands disposed of.