Delhi HC seeks response from RBI, ED, PayPal on plea claiming illegal ops

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and PayPal Payments Private Limited on a plea that the company is unauthorised and was doing illegal operation in India as a Payment Systems in contravention of law.

The petition filed by Abhi Mishra through counsel Payal Bahl stated that PayPal payment Pvt Ltd was operating in contravention of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

"The said section clearly mentions that no person, other than the Reserve Bank, shall commence or operate a payment system except to operate under and in accordance with an authorisation issued by the Reserve Bank of India," it said.

A division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Harishankar issued notices to all respondents and slated the matter for September 18.

The petitioner stated that Paypal Payments Private Limited is not listed as an authorised operator as per the list of the 'Payment System Operators' authorised by the RBI to set up and operate in India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 as published by the central bank on May 27, 2019.

He claimed that Paypal Payments Private Limited is operating as a foreign exchange dealer in contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

"Paypal Payments Private Limited through its unauthorised operation in India as Payment and Settlement Systems has unmonitored and unauthorised access to the personal information such as Aadhaar, PAN, transactions of the public by acting as a Payment and Settlement Systems operator is in violation of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the petition said.