An advocate here has moved the Madras High Court for a direction to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to take action against a private mobile phone service provider claiming that he had been receiving obscene messages on his cell phone despite requests to stop them.

Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar directed issue of notice to TRAI, Union Telecommunication Secretary and Bharathi Airtel Ltd returnable in two weeks on the petition filed by V S Suresh.

The petitioner said since April 2010 he had started receiving SMS allegedly derogatory to the dignity of women.

Besides, in some instances charges for the messages had been deducted from his pre-paid account.

As the company did not act on his complaints, he moved the police who registered an FIR against the CEO of the service provider on January 10 last following an order by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court.

The advocate alleged that after being called by the police for questioning on January 18, he was told to hand over his mobile phone for investigation. Since then it had not been returned causing him hardship.

He said he had since moved the court for a direction to the police to return his moblie phone. The petition is pending before the court.

He said having no other effective alternative, he had moved the High Court. He also sought a direction to TRAI to take suitable action to protect his interests and those of other users.