The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked for a status report on restoration of 4G services after it was informed that non-availability of high-speed Internet was hampering studies of students who were confined to their homes because of the lockdown to curb coronavirus cases.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal passed these directions after hearing a micus curiae Monika Kholi on a Public Interest Litigation.

Justice Mittal has been regularly reviewing the responses of the administrations of JK and Ladakh in tackling the coronavirus situation. She has been holding regular video-conference hearings with all stake holders involved in the fight against COVID-19.

During the video-conference held on Friday, Kohli made avehement submission that on account of non-availability of the 4G services, the students in the Union Territories were unable to access the educational courses being sent by institutions.

The noted lawyer drew attention of the court that allcolleges and schools on the directions of the universities and CBSE wereproviding study material and classes online but students of the two unionterritories could not access or even download the files due to lack of highspeed Internet.

Because of this, Kohli said, the students would lag behindcompared to those from the rest of the country and urged for immediate restorationof 4G Internet.

Additional Solicitor General Vishal Sharma informed thecourt that this issue is under consideration before the Supreme Court in a PILfiled by the ''Foundation for Media Professionals'' and a notice has beenissued by the apex court.

However, after hearing the issue, the division bench, thatalso comprised Justice Rahnesh Oswal, asked the home secretaries of the boththe union territories to submit a status report before the court.

The CBSE, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan and other schoolboards and universities have began holding online classes for its students fromearlier this month.