Supreme Court grants permission for Summons via Whatsapp.

Court summons and notices can be sent via email, fax and instant messaging applications like WhatsApp amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde observed that it has been brought to the notice of the court that it is not feasible to visit post offices for service of notices, summons, and pleadings. The bench also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and R Subhash Reddy observed that notice.

Allowing this, the Supreme Court said that along with this, notices / summons should be sent through the mail on the same day. Two blue ticks will ensure that the receiver has seen the notice. However, it clarified that a party would have to prove valid service using the methods of summons and notice.

However, Venugopal expressed reservation about service through Whatsapp. "Since the messenger service claims that it is end-to-end encrypted, it would be difficult to prove legitimate service of summons/notices sent through Whatsapp," he said. But, the CJI said, "If the sent notice/summons in message form reflects two blue ticks, then it would constitute as valid service."

This is a significant move since the top court has already been hearing cases through video conferencing since March and this is another important step towards digitalisation of the judicial procedures at the apex court.

A bench led by Chief Justice SA Bobde took on record, a consolidated reply filed on behalf of the Union of India detailing its stand on several IA's with regard to limitations pertaining to Section 29A & 23(4)of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, Service of all notices, summons and exchanges of pleadings, Clarifications with regard to the earlier March 23 order & Extension of Limitation under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

Senior Advocate V Giri, representing RBI, stated that it had decided not to extend the limitation period under the provision as of now.

When Attorney General Venugopal urged the Bench to use the phrase "namely WhatsApp" to specify the messaging apps in its order, the Bench refused, stating it would not commit the mistake that was done when a company name like 'Xerox' replaced the word "photo copying".