Supreme Court asks Centre to reply on plea for appointment of Grievance Officer at WhatsApp
New Delhi, Oct 8 : The Supreme Court Monday asked the Centre to file its reply on a plea alleging that WhatsApp does not comply with the Indian laws, including the provision for appointing a grievance officer.
A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Navin Sinha granted time to the Centre to file the reply after Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh said that various issues have been raised in the petition and it needs time to file the response.
The top court had issued notice to the Centre and WhatsApp on a plea filed by an NGO, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which also sought to restrain the platform from proceeding with its payment service unless it fully complies with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provisions.
WhatsApp reportedly has over 200 million users in India and almost one million people are "testing" its payments service. India is one of the largest bases for the Facebook-owned company that has over 1.5 billion users globally.
In its plea, the CASC said that to open a bank account, a customer needs to comply with KYC norms laid down by the RBI and various other formalities.
"WhatsApp is a foreign company with no office or servers in India. To run Payments Service in India, WhatsApp is obligated to have its office and payments in India. Moreover, it is also required to have a Grievance Officer for users in India. Yet, it is being allowed to continue with its Payments and other services, without any check," the plea claimed.
It also alleged that the social media giant does not comply with tax and other laws of India, but its reach was such that it is used by everyone, be it a commoner or even the judges of the apex court.
The plea, filed through advocate Virag Gupta, said that every user has a number on WhatsApp but the messaging platform has no number through which its user can contact it for any grievance redressal.
Pointing to various internet-based crimes, it claimed that the growth of such incidents was directly proportional to the growth of the user base of messaging services like WhatsApp.
"Companies like Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. have appointed Grievance Officer for users in India, but WhatsApp has not. However, the Grievance Officer of Facebook sits in Ireland and the Grievance Officer of Google sits in USA and are thus rendered ineffective.
"In order to make Respondent No. 6 (WhatsApp) accountable, it must be directed to comply with Indian Law and appoint Grievance Officer, who shall be the person to address grievance of consumers, as well as co-ordinate with investigating agencies," the petition said.
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Spurious ointment racket busted; Delhi Police recovers material worth Rs 2 crore from Ghaziabad unit
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has busted a major interstate racket allegedly involved in the manufacture, repackaging and nationwide sale of spurious Schedule-H medicines, an official said on Sunday.
Police have also located a manufacturing unit and seized counterfeit drugs and raw material worth over Rs 2.3 crore.
According to the police, two men -- Gaurav Bhagat, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, and Shree Ram alias Vishal Gupta of northeast Delhi's Sabhapur -- have been arrested in the case, he said.
"The operation was carried out by the Crime Branch. The accused were engaged in producing and selling counterfeit versions of popular prescription ointments, including Betnovate-C and Clop-G, which are widely used for treating skin infections, allergies and sports-related injuries," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said in a statement.
The officer further said the spurious medicines were sold as genuine branded products, posing a serious risk to public health.
Acting on inputs, the Crime Branch team first conducted a raid at Teliwara in Sadar Bazar, one of the country's largest wholesale pharmaceutical and cosmetic markets.
"During the raid, a large quantity of counterfeit Schedule-H ointments was recovered. Subsequent technical analysis and follow-up intelligence led the team to a manufacturing unit operating from Meerpur Hindu village in the Loni area of Ghaziabad.
"A search of the premises resulted in the recovery of counterfeit medicines, huge quantities of raw chemicals, packing material, empty tubes bearing forged brand labels and machinery used for mixing, filling and sealing ointments," the DCP said.
He further said drug inspectors from the North and Central Zones of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, along with authorised representatives of the concerned pharmaceutical companies, conducted spot inspections and drew samples from the seized stock. They confirmed that the medicines were counterfeit and neither manufactured nor supplied by their companies.
The accused were also found to be operating without any valid licence to manufacture, store or sell pharmaceutical products, he added.
Police said that an FIR was registered at the Crime Branch police station on December 12 under various sections of the BNS and provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
"The seized material included around 1,200 tubes of spurious Betnovate-C ointment, over 2,700 tubes of fake Clop-G, more than 3,700 tubes of spurious Skin-Shine ointment, nearly 22,000 empty fake Clop-G tubes, over 350 kilograms of semi-prepared ointment, besides chemicals and manufacturing equipment," the DCP said.
He said further investigation is underway to trace the entire supply chain, including wholesalers, distributors, delivery handlers and retailers involved in the illegal trade.
