The Delhi High Court has mandated the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to hold a meeting aimed at ensuring universal adherence among banks to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding the disclosure of information on fraudulent transactions to law enforcement agencies.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh noted that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and its uniform implementation across all banks are still undergoing refinement and development.

The court was addressing a series of petitions pertaining to the increasing prevalence of fraudulent domain names. These petitions were filed by trademark and brand owners seeking remedies against the unauthorized use of their marks and names by individuals who register such marks as part of their domain names. Additionally, the petitions raised concerns about fraudulent transactions leading to unsuspecting customers being deceived.

The court was informed that, following its directive, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) convened a meeting where law enforcement agencies emphasized the importance of banks expediting the provision of information on fraudulent transactions.

The court had also directed the counsel representing the RBI to ascertain whether the regulatory authority has the jurisdiction to issue guidelines mandating banks to verify the beneficiary's name or name in the billing details against the account holder's name, rather than solely relying on the account number, for both online and offline payments.

The court issued a notice to the senior advisor and requested their appearance before it to ensure that the perspectives of all banks are taken into account. The case is scheduled for further hearing on April 6th.

Case Title: Dabur India Limited v. Ashok Kumar and Ors, CS(COMM) 135/2022 (and other connected matters)