WhatsApp messages have no probative value: Supreme Court | India News
NEW DELHI: “Popularity is not a measure of reliability” seems to have played on the minds of the Supreme Court, which said on Wednesday that messages exchanged on social media platform WhatsApp were of no value evidence and that the author of these WhatsApp messages could not be linked to them, especially in commercial partnerships governed by agreements.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy said: “What is the probative value of WhatsApp messages these days? Nowadays, everything can be created and deleted on social media. We do not attach any value to WhatsApp messages.
The issue concerned a concession agreement dated December 2, 2016 between the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and a consortium comprising A2Z Infraservices and another entity for the collection and transport of waste. On April 28, 2017, A2Z entered into another agreement with Quippo Infrastructure (now Viom Infra ventures) for the execution of part of the contractual work and it was agreed that all monies received by A2Z would be deposited in an escrow account at from which payments would be made to the parties.
On May 28 of last year, A2Z terminated the contractual agreement and Quippo moved HC from Calcutta on September 14 for the appointment of an arbitration panel on certain matters relating to the contractual agreement with A2Z. The parties agreed to an arbitrator on January 14 this year.
A single judge of the Calcutta HC was informed by Quippo’s lawyer of a WhatsApp message of March 19, 2020 in which A2Z admitted the payment of Rs 8.18 crore owed to Quippo. Quippo also showed an email from the year 2018 in which A2Z had agreed to deposit all the money received from SDMC into an escrow account.
A2Z told HC that the WhatsApp message was tampered with and fabricated. But, the HC ordered A2Z to “deposit any money they would receive in the future from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation as part of the work covered by the master service contract into the escrow account subject to further instructions in this regard by the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral award which may be rendered ”.
Appearing for A2Z before the SC on Wednesday, lead lawyer Ranjit Kumar said that although the agreement was terminated and the dispute referred to arbitration, it was incomprehensible why the HC ordered that all of the claims of SDMC are deposited in the escrow account. “I will not be able to pay the workers engaged in the collection and transport of solid waste management in Delhi. Why should the HC believe a WhatsApp message when we disputed it as tampered with and fabricated. ”
For Quippo, senior lawyer Ritin Rai said the escrow account was created on the basis of an agreement for a fair distribution of the money between the parties. However, the SC bench led by CJI Ramana said that once the case goes to arbitration, why should a party that terminated the agreement have to deposit the claims in an escrow account?
“At first glance, we are not happy with HC’s directive to deposit the money in an escrow account. We do not contemplate the alleged admission in the WhatsApp message. If it is not late, then go to the arbitrator and the parties would be bound by the arbitration award, ”the magistrate said. However, with Rai persisting at his booth, the judiciary issued an opinion and asked Rai’s client to file a response to A2Z’s request.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy said: “What is the probative value of WhatsApp messages these days? Nowadays, everything can be created and deleted on social media. We do not attach any value to WhatsApp messages.
The issue concerned a concession agreement dated December 2, 2016 between the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and a consortium comprising A2Z Infraservices and another entity for the collection and transport of waste. On April 28, 2017, A2Z entered into another agreement with Quippo Infrastructure (now Viom Infra ventures) for the execution of part of the contractual work and it was agreed that all monies received by A2Z would be deposited in an escrow account at from which payments would be made to the parties.
On May 28 of last year, A2Z terminated the contractual agreement and Quippo moved HC from Calcutta on September 14 for the appointment of an arbitration panel on certain matters relating to the contractual agreement with A2Z. The parties agreed to an arbitrator on January 14 this year.
A single judge of the Calcutta HC was informed by Quippo’s lawyer of a WhatsApp message of March 19, 2020 in which A2Z admitted the payment of Rs 8.18 crore owed to Quippo. Quippo also showed an email from the year 2018 in which A2Z had agreed to deposit all the money received from SDMC into an escrow account.
A2Z told HC that the WhatsApp message was tampered with and fabricated. But, the HC ordered A2Z to “deposit any money they would receive in the future from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation as part of the work covered by the master service contract into the escrow account subject to further instructions in this regard by the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral award which may be rendered ”.
Appearing for A2Z before the SC on Wednesday, lead lawyer Ranjit Kumar said that although the agreement was terminated and the dispute referred to arbitration, it was incomprehensible why the HC ordered that all of the claims of SDMC are deposited in the escrow account. “I will not be able to pay the workers engaged in the collection and transport of solid waste management in Delhi. Why should the HC believe a WhatsApp message when we disputed it as tampered with and fabricated. ”
For Quippo, senior lawyer Ritin Rai said the escrow account was created on the basis of an agreement for a fair distribution of the money between the parties. However, the SC bench led by CJI Ramana said that once the case goes to arbitration, why should a party that terminated the agreement have to deposit the claims in an escrow account?
“At first glance, we are not happy with HC’s directive to deposit the money in an escrow account. We do not contemplate the alleged admission in the WhatsApp message. If it is not late, then go to the arbitrator and the parties would be bound by the arbitration award, ”the magistrate said. However, with Rai persisting at his booth, the judiciary issued an opinion and asked Rai’s client to file a response to A2Z’s request.
