The Delhi High Court, during the hearing of a plea highlighting sale of products from a brand named ‘Shein’ on the platform of Amazon.in, was informed that the sale of products from banned applications on a third party platform has not been prohibited by the Centre.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice D.N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing a plea seeking prohibition on sale in the Indian digital market place, of products from applications banned by the Central Government.
In an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, it has been submitted that though the functionality of Shein app has been blocked in the interest of nation’s sovereignty and security while exercising power under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000, but the sale of Shein products through other platforms/websites is altogether a different aspect and cannot be included within the ambit of Section 69A. “A blanket order for blocking sale of Shein products in other websites cannot be passed by the Committee constituted under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000,” stated in the affidavit.
It is further stated that every incident violating the provisions of the section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, related to already blocked information/ content has to be reported separately by following the due process as enumerated under the Blocking Rules, 2009, by way of a complaint made to the “Nodal Officer” of the concerned Organization.
Senior Counsel Vivek Raj Singh, appearing for the petitioner, while opposing the stand taken by the Government, contended that various Chinese applications, including Shein, were banned in order to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the nation, and thereby such applications should not be allowed to approach the country through any third party platform.
The Bench directed Amazon.in to file its response in the matter and slated it for next hearing on December 1, 2021.