Supreme Court notice to Centre, WhatsApp against payments service
New Delhi, Aug 27 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and messaging service provider WhatsApp after a plea sought direction to restrain the app from proceeding with its payments systems unless it fully complies with RBI's provisions.
A bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Indu Malhotra sought response from WhatsApp, Law and Justice Ministry, Finance Ministry and Information Technology Ministry within four weeks.
Advocate Virag Gupta, appearing for the petitioner Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change, contended that the messaging platform does not comply with provision of mandating a Grievance Officer and other laws of India including Know Your Customer (KYC) norms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The plea said that while companies like Facebook and Google have appointed Grievance Officers for users in India, WhatsApp had not.
In order to make WhatsApp accountable, it must be directed to comply with Indian laws and appoint a Grievance Officer who shall address grievances of the consumers as well as co-ordinate with investigating agencies, it added.
WhatsApp is a foreign company with no office or servers in India and to run payments service here it is obligated to have its office and payments in India, said the plea.
The advocate said WhatsApp was being allowed to continue with its payments and other services without any checks.
WhatsApp has over 200 million users in India and almost one million people are "testing" WhatsApp's payments service in India, which is the largest base for the Facebook-owned company that has over 1.5 billion users globally, according to the petition.
Every user has a number on WhatsApp but the messaging platform does not have a number through which the users can contact the company for grievance redressal, it added.
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Karnataka govt formulating civil aviation policy: Minister Patil
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil on Friday said that the state government is formulating a civil aviation policy of its own, covering various aspects of the sector.
He also said that a meeting of public representatives from Ballari, Vijayanagara and Koppal districts will be held soon under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's chairmanship, regarding the airport in the region, as he stressed that both feasibility and viability should be considered while determining the location for airports.
The minister was replying to a question about Ballari airport, raised by Gangavathi MLA G Janardhana Reddy in the Legislative Assembly.
"We build airports, but after three years they get shut down. The situation is not only in our state, but it is across the country. We don't know the future of district airports. So I met the Union Civil Aviation Minister along with the Chief Minister with a request that the UDAN scheme be extended from three years to five years, and that for the subsequent five years the Centre and the state should jointly support operations in a 50:50 ratio," Patil said.
"The issue is there across the country and they (Centre) are also thinking on these lines...We are also bringing a policy on civil aviation from the Infrastructure Development Department (IDD). Two other states have done it --Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. That policy will have things like state's share, bulk amount sought by international airlines, among other things," he said, adding that work is on regarding this policy.
Noting that the proposed Ballari airport should benefit not only Ballari district but also the people of Koppal and Vijayanagara districts, the minister said in this regard, a meeting of public representatives from the three districts will soon be convened under the chairmanship of the chief minister to deliberate on the merits and challenges of the project.
There is little use if an airport becomes inactive after construction. "Keeping this in mind, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has identified two new sites in Ballari district measuring about 800 acres and 1,200 acres for the proposed airport," he said.
If the airport were to be constructed at the previously identified site in Ballari, it would require the construction of an eight-lane greenfield highway and involve several other issues, the minister said.
"Land acquisition and compensation alone would cost nearly as much as the airport project itself. Therefore, that option is not practically feasible. The matter will ultimately be finalised at the meeting to be held under the chairmanship of the CM," he added.
Stating that airports must be planned with foresight, otherwise, the same mistakes seen in Hubballi, Belagavi and Vijayapura would be repeated, Patil pointed out that the distance between Belagavi and Hubballi airports is only about 70 km.
"If an airport had been constructed at a location between the two districts to serve both regions, it might have been declared an international airport based on passenger traffic," he said.
A similar mistake has been made in Vijayapura as well. "The airport that is now ready for inauguration has been constructed on the Kalaburagi road. If it had been located towards Almatti instead, it would have benefited places such as Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal and Bagalkote, all of which have tourist attractions," he said.
Highlighting that airports located in district and divisional headquarters across the country are facing challenges, the minister said Bidar and Kalaburagi airports are also experiencing difficulties.
"At present, Bidar airport is functioning with the support of the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB). There has also been a demand to resume operations at Kalaburagi airport, and steps will be taken in that direction," he added.
