HC asks RBI, SBI to respond to plea to revoke ban on use of UPI

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday sought the response of the Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India on a plea seeking to direct the authorities to revoke the prohibition on the use of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform in dealing and settling funds in the cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to SBI, Reserve Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, and the Department of Financial Services and asked them to respond to the petition.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on December 24.

Petitioner Arnav Gulati, a law student, said he along with numerous account holders of SBI and registered users of cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX is aggrieved by the actions of the authorities which infringes his fundamental right of trade under Article 19(1)(g) and the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.

Advocates Siddharth Acharya and Simarjeet Singh Satia, representing the petitioner, said the petition has been filed against the arbitrary action taken by State Bank of India to block the UPI Services for the WazirX (leading cryptocurrency exchange) users violating the Supreme Court judgement of March 2020.