NEW DELHI, Feb 20:
The Delhi High Court today issued notices to social networking sites Facebook and Google India and the government on a petition, seeking recovery of income tax dues to the tune of millions of dollars.
A bench comprising Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajiv Shakdhar while issuing notices to the respondents asked them to file their response within four weeks and posted the matter to April 9.
The court’s directions came on a public interest litigation(PIL) filed by former BJP think-tank and presently patron of Rashtriya Swabhiman Aandolan K N Govindacharya seeking recovery of taxes from the foreign-based social networking sites, saying that they must pay taxes here as they are earning revenue from users of India.
Mr Govindacharya told the court that government should ensure that proper accounting compliance is done by the foreign-based companies here as millions of dollars revenue is being taken by them abroad from Indian users without paying any tax.
The petitioner also sought the safety of data of 50 million Indian users, which are transferred to the US and being used for commercial gains in violation of the Right to Privacy.
He demanded that the government should ensure that its officers do not use social networking sites from government computers as they may pose a threat to sensitive data and National Computer Network.
Mr Govindacharya also sought that all users below the age of 13 years should not be allowed to use these sites and all accounts should be verified afresh to screen out any such users.
He sought a creation of national register of persons indulging in sexual offences and heinous crimes and stopping such people from joining social networking sites. (UNI)
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