Bombay High Court: The Court accepted service of notice through WhatsApp messenger after finding that the notice served was not only delivered, but the attachment was opened as well.
The claimants had filed the execution application against the respondent who was evading all their calls and efforts by legal representatives to reach out to him. He has been evading service of notice under Order XXI Rule 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. After tracing his number, a notice was sent to him informing him about the next date of hearing. Notice was served by an authorised officer of the claimant by sending a PDF and message to his mobile number as a WhatsApp message.
The Bench of G.S. Patel, J. accepted this for the purposes of service of Notice under Order XXI Rule 22 as the icon indicators clearly showed that not only was the message and its attachment delivered to the respondent’s number but that both were opened as well. [SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Rohidas Jadhav,2018 SCC OnLine Bom 1262, order dated 11-06-2018]
