Govt flags concerns over issuing summons over WhatsApp chats
NEW DELHI : The central government told the Supreme Court on Monday that it has reservations about issuing court summons and serving notices to litigants over WhatsApp.
Attorney general (AG) KK Venugopal, representing the central government, told the top court that service of notices and summons should be permitted through email and fax in view of Covid -19 ,but not through WhatsApp given that the messaging app does not allow the government to access data even in matters concerning terrorism and pornography.
“Union government has reservations regarding WhatsApp. It does not allow (government to) access (data) in cases involving terrorism and pornography”, Venugopal told a bench headed by CJI SA Bobde.
The submissions were made in a case relating to extension of the limitation period for filing cases. Limitation period is the deadline to file cases in any court or tribunal in the country. The limitation period is generally prescribed under the Limitation Act. It is also sometimes provided under special laws in certain cases.
The Supreme Court had, on March 23, extended for an indefinite period, the limitation period to file cases in any court on tribunal amid the pandemic. The order was passed by the apex court in a suo motu (on its own) case initiated after taking into account the coronavirus threat .
The issue of service of summons and notice through WhatsApp came up on Monday during submissions by the central government requesting the apex court to pass further orders allowing summons and notice through email and fax.
The matter was eventually adjourned for July 10.
Certain high courts like the Bombay high court and Madras high court had allowed service of notice to parties via WhatsApp.
The Delhi high court, after taking note of the spurt in coronavirus disease cases, issued a circular on June 9 allowing service of documents, notices and summons through WhatsApp, email and fax. The Bombay HChad, in 2018, held that the service of notices through WhatsApp was valid.
AG Venugopal, however, said that the practice should not be allowed for the time being and pointed to a case which is pending before the Supreme Court on the traceability of messages sent over WhatsApp. He was referring to a case from Tamil Nadu involving WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in which the government has pressed for a decryption of messages on social media and messaging platforms in matters involving considerations of national security, law and order etc.
That case had started before the Madras high court as a plea for linkage of social media accounts with Aadhaar. Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu government raised concerns about WhatsApp not cooperating with police probes in key cases, citing end-to-end encryption.
The matter was transferred to the Supreme Court in October 2019 on a plea by Facebook in August 2019. WhatsApp has maintained that the original sender of a message cannot be tracked because of end-to-end encryption.
“For Facebook and WhatsApp to say they cannot decrypt is not acceptable. A terrorist cannot claim privacy”, AG Venugopal told the court in October 2019.