Kriti Agrawal –
The Delhi High Court has refused to stay the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) investigation into WhatsApp’s new privacy policies.
A Vacation Division Bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Justice Jasmeet Singh was hearing WhatsApp and its parent firm Facebook Inc’s appeal against a Single Bench judgment denying intervention with the CCI’s inquiry.
The Bench stated that, “In our opinion, the DG’s issuance of the impugned notice is a step forward in the probe initiated in the Suo-Motu case, which is the subject of the challenge in the current Letter Patents Appeal (LPA). At this stage, we do not deem it suitable to stop the operation of the impugned notice dated 04.06.2021.”
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing on behalf of WhatsApp LLC, argued that while the current LPA is pending before a Division Bench of this Court, the DG issued a notice dated June 4, 2021, purporting to be under section 41(2) read with section 36(2) of the Competition Act 2002, demanding information and responses to certain queries from the appellant.
The CCI’s Additional Solicitor General, Aman Lekhi, stated that he has instructions to say that the issuance of the notice dated June 4, 2021, was perfectly in line with the procedure contemplated under the statute for carrying forward an ongoing investigation that has not been stayed by the Division Bench.
ASG further stated that, preparing a report in response to the impugned notice’s request for information would take a significant amount of time, and that the report would then be forwarded to the Competition Commission of India.
As a result, ASG Lekhi stated that the report will not be finished by the next date of hearing before the Roster Division Bench, which is July 9, 2021.