Delhi HC to hear PIL against Google Pay

Delhi HC to hear PIL against Google Pay

The American tech-giant has been accused of unauthorized access, usage and storage of Aadhar data

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the Delhi High Court may land the American tech-giant Google in trouble. The PIL has been filed by one Abhijit Mishra through advocate Payal Bahl.

The petition was listed before a vacation bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Prateek Jalan on 31 December 2020.

The petitioner has accused Google Pay of collecting and storing Aadhar data of users while it does not have requisite permission from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) or any other Indian authorities to do so.

This, according to the PIL, violated Article 21 of the Constitution, Aadhar Act 2016, Payments and Settlement System Act 2007 and Banking Regulation Act 1949.

The petition says that Google Pay is not registered/licensed under the aegis of the Payments and Settlement Systems Act 2007 to conduct the business of payments and transactions.

It has further been stated in the PIL that Google Pay is not registered/licensed as a Bank/Co-operative Bank/Financial Institution/Non-Banking Finance Company under the Banking Regulation Act 1949 to conduct payments and processing transactions.

Google Pay is a digital wallet platform and online payment system developed by Google LLC to enable users to make payments through the use of mobile phones, tablets or watches.

The PIL also seeks HC direction to the UIDAI to initiate action against Google Pay under Sections 23A, 28, 29, 38 and 43 of the Aadhar Act 2016 for unauthorised collection, storage and usage of Aadhar data of its users.

The PIL has prayed to the court that the UIDAI and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) be directed to prevent the unauthorized access.

The HC deferred hearing on the matter till 14 January 2021 and directed the petitioner to file an affidavit listing details of all PILs filed by him till date.

Incidentally, Google Pay is not the only American company to come offer its platform to make payments without Pay any license. Amazon Pay is already under the scanner of the Indian authorities for conducting unauthorized payment processing, though Amazon has explained that merely uses the existing platforms to enable its customers to pay with their Amazon accounts on external merchant websites.