Supreme Court Closes Petition Seeking To Ban 'Zoom' Software

During the hearing, a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh was told by Senior Advocate Arvind Datar that an inter-ministerial meeting was held to assess the safety features of zoom.

"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?”, Datar argued.

He also questioned the locus of the petitioner.

"The Petitioner is a tuition teacher; locus also should be checked. It's a PIL".

The advocate appearing for the petitioner relied 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".

On April 16, 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 not safe.  

The bench also considered the minutes of a subsequent meeting of the National Security Council Secretariat held on December 28, 2020 regarding the security features of Zoom.

"We have considered the minutes of the meeting of the National Security Council Secretariat held on December 28, 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”.

The petition has been drawn by Advocates Divye Chugh & Nimish Chib & has been filed by Advocate Wajeeh Shafiq.

Case Title: Harsh Chugh v. Union of India And Ors. WP(C) No. 886/2020 PIL

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