The Delhi High Court on Friday deferred to August 27, hearing on the appeal filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook, challenging the order passed by the Single-Judge Bench, wherein the Single Judge refused to interfere with the Competition Commission of India’s probe for investigation against the platform’s new privacy policy.
The development came in light of Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for CCI, requesting for a short accommodation before the Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.
Senior Counsel Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, did not object to the adjournment sought, upon condition that CCI grants further time to the messaging platform to reply to the notice issued by the CCI.
“If they don’t insist on a reply for fifth and they agree to extending that time, I have no problem….It can’t be that for convenience the matter is adjourned and my interim application becomes infructuous,” he stated.
Subsequently, the Bench extended the time period for filing reply to June 4 and June 8 notice issued by the CCI upon WhatsApp and Facebook, respectively, seeking certain information in relation to its probe into the platform’s new privacy policy, till August 27’ 2021.
On the last date of hearing, Mr. Salve informed the Court that the messaging platform’s new privacy policy will not be enforced till the Personal Data Protection Bill comes in.
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Earlier, the Division Bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the CCI seeking its response on the appeals preferred by WhatsApp and Facebook against the Single-Judge order of dismissal of their pleas challenging the CCI’s order for an investigation into the platform’s new privacy policy.