Supreme Court Dismisses Petition Seeking to Ban Zoom Software

Supreme Court Dismisses Petition Seeking to Ban Zoom Software

The Supreme Court while hearing the writ petition filed in the matter of Harsh Chugh vs. Union of India and others by its division bench comprising of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh closed the proceedings which sought to ban the usage of software application 'Zoom' over security and privacy concerns.

The Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appearing for the Centre informed the Apex Court that an inter-ministerial meeting was held to assess the safety features of zoom.

Mr. Datar asserted, "nothing really survives in this plea. Your Lordships had asked us to file additional documents. There's nothing wrong with Zoom. We had an inter-ministerial meeting. They are asking to ban Zoom. Why only Zoom? Why not Webex, Meet?"

He further questioned the Locus Standi of the petitioner and contended, "the petitioner is a tuition teacher; locus also should be checked. It is a PIL."

The Advocate representing the petitioner placed reference on notifications issued by the government itself stating not to use the Zoom platform.

"Government had issued certain notifications that Zoom shouldn't be used. Let government say that Zoom is good to use. That's the only concern," petitioner argued.

On 16th April, 2020, the Cyber Coordination Centre under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory on the secure use of Zoom Meeting Platform by private individuals. The advisory stated that the platform is not for use by Government officers/officials for official purposes as it is safe.

The bench also noted the minutes of a subsequent meeting of the National Security Council Secretariat held on 28th December, 2020 with respect to security features of Zoom.

The bench was of the considered view, "we have considered the minutes of the meeting of the National Security Council Secretariat held on 28 December, 2020 regarding the security features of Zoom, VC platform. In our opinion, nothing survives in the present writ petition in view of the said document. Accordingly, the proceedings are closed."