In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 699/2021 -SC- Supreme Court rejects petition on recycled phone numbers, cites TRAI policy & WhatsApp safeguards to ensure data security
Justice Sanjiv Khanna & Justice S.V.N. Bhatti [30-10-2023]

Read Order: Rajeswari V. Union of India & Ors

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, November 3, 2023: In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has dismissed a writ petition that raised concerns regarding the allocation of cellular mobile telephone numbers and the potential privacy risks associated with recycled phone numbers.

In its order, the division bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti noted that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has a policy of not allocating deactivated cellular mobile telephone numbers to new subscribers for at least 90 days.

The bench also emphasized that it is the responsibility of the former subscriber to prevent the misuse of WhatsApp data associated with the previous phone number. This can be achieved by deleting the WhatsApp account linked to the old number and erasing WhatsApp data stored on the local device memory or cloud storage.

Furthermore, the court noted that WhatsApp, as per information available on its help centre, actively monitors account inactivity. If an account remains inactive for 45 days and is subsequently activated on a different mobile device, the old account data is removed. This measure is in place to prevent confusion and data entanglement in the case of recycled phone numbers.

Based on these explanations and safeguards provided by TRAI and WhatsApp, the court dismissed the present writ petition.