The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred the case involving messaging service WhatsApp’s privacy policy to a Constitution bench, reported PTI. The bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud asked both the petitioner and the respondent to appear before the five-judge bench on April 18 and decide on the issues that need to be adjudicated.

WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, which was unveiled in August last year, allows the company to share some user data, including phone numbers, with its parent company Facebook. A petition was filed by two users, alleging that the privacy of more 157 million Indians has been compromised by the commercial use of their personal communication. On January 16, the Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked WhatsApp not to share user information with Facebook. In a ruling in September, the court had said that WhatsApp must delete the information of people who had opted out of its new privacy policy before September 25 last year.

However, Facebook’s counsel argued that the matter was a “contract issue”, and does not need a Constitution bench, reported CNN-News18. Facebook added that the matter had been resolved earlier by a seven-judge bench and thus there was no point in setting up another five-judge bench.