Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India<\/em> 2020 3 SCC 637 has observed that the suspension of the internet for an indefinite period of time may amount to an abuse of power by the government. The Court has also said that Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read along with Blocking Rules empowers the government to impose restrictions on online content.<\/p>\nThe Chinese companies have alleged that the GoI is discriminating against them and not treating them equally and the ban on them is a violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. However, Article 14 itself provides for dissimilar treatment between different classes, on the basis of reasonableness.<\/p>\n
The GoI in the context of rising tensions with China claims that the banned Chinese apps are a threat to national security as they are transferring user data and certain vital information to their origin country. Moreover, the ban is in accordance with Section 69A of the IT Act which empowers the Union of India to impose such restrictions.<\/p>\n
In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India <\/em>2015 5 SCC 1, the Apex Court has upheld the constitutional validity of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.<\/p>\nThe International Law Perspective<\/strong><\/h4>\nA concern raised with respect to the app blocks imposed by the Indian Government is the possible violation of international trade law. Disputes under international trade law are overseen by the World Trade Organization (WTO).<\/p>\n
However, Article XXI of the GATT (General Agreements of Tariffs and Trade) provides for certain exceptions which state that a member country can refrain from those obligations if it believes that such an act of putting restriction is important for its national security and interests. The Indian government cited the same exceptions for blocking the Chinese apps.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\nAccording to the law of the land, the government\u2019s step to ban the Chinese apps is constitutionally valid. The ban has been imposed in accordance with Sec. 69A of the IT Act 2000, and is constitutional. The government has the power to restrict any online content to protect the sovereignty, integrity, and national security of the nation. Also, the constitutional validity of Sec. 69A has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal Case<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0Mujeeb Ahmad
\nLegal Intern, LawDiktat<\/strong><\/h6>\nReferences <\/strong><\/h4>\nlexology.com. N.p., Web. 13 Jun. 2022.
\n<https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=97c6a86e-8c67-4af3-bfe2-9650db241440>.<\/p>\n
Shubham, Kumar. \u201cCHINESE APPS BAN \u2013 LEGALITY IN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW.\u201d\u00a0rfmlr.com. RGNUL FINANCIAL AND MERCANTILE LAW REVIEW, 6 Oct. 2020. Web. 13 Jun. 2022.
\n<https:\/\/www.rfmlr.com\/post\/chinese-apps-ban-legality-in-domestic-and-international-law>.<\/p>\n
indiacode.nic.in. N.p., Web. 13 Jun. 2022.
\n<https:\/\/www.indiacode.nic.in\/show-data?actid=AC_CEN_45_76_00001_200021_1517807324077&orderno=89\u00a7ionId=13098\u00a7ionno=69A>.<\/p>\n
web.archive.org. N.p., Web. 13 Jun. 2022.
\n<http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210421135722\/https:\/\/www.itlaw.in\/section-69a-power-to-issue-directions-for-blocking-for-public-access-of-any-information-through-any-computer-resource>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction The Government of India (GoI) has banned several Chinese apps. It first banned 59 Chinese Apps in June 2022; followed by the ban of 118 apps in September 2022 and another 43 in November 2022 vide press releases (Press Releases) issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), the total number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":27104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,24],"tags":[107,106,108],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27110,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27105\/revisions\/27110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawdiktat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}