Google India has sought three weeks time to submit its response to the Delhi High Court on a petition seeking to immediately suspend operations of its UPI app, Google Pay, till it complies with interoperability
The court, in the meantime, also asked the Centre and the RBI to respond to allegations made in the petition about Google India’s “wilful and continued non-compliance” of various directions issued by the government and the RBI.
Justice Asha Menon, who heard the case through videoconferencing, granted the Centre, RBI and Google India three weeks to file their responses.
Petitioner Shubham Kapaley approached the High Court after Google Pay did not allow him to contribute to the PM CARES Fund, without making another VPA (virtual payment address) or UPI ID on its own app. He tried to use his already existing VPA/UPI ID for other transactions as well, however, the same issue of denial of interoperability persisted.
The plea claimed that Google Pay was flouting the rules of UPI interoperability and that it does not allow new users to use their existing VPAs or UPI ID on its platform. It sought for a thorough third party and independent investigation to check compliance of directive and guidelines issued by the National Payments Corporation of India and the RBI.
