The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to WhatsApp, and the ministries of law, finance, and electronics and information technology, based on a petition against the messenger’s payments service.

Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change had filed the plea, seeking WhatsApp’s compliance with a Reserve Bank of India circular dated April 6, which stipulates that in order to run a payments service in India the firm must have its offices and payments in India, Live Law reported. The plea alleged that WhatsApp has violated this condition.

“To open a bank account, a customer needs to comply with Know Your Customer norms and various other formalities,” the plea said. “WhatsApp is a foreign company with no office or servers in India. To run a payments service in India, WhatsApp is obligated to have its office and payments in India. Moreover, it is also required to have a grievance officer for users in India. Yet, it is being allowed to continue without any checks.”

The petition alleged that incidents of mob lynching as a result of rumours on social networking platforms are on the rise in India in direct proportion to the growth in the user base of messaging services such as WhatsApp. The plea also said non-payment of taxes by WhatsApp in India violates the freedom to conduct business in the country.

The petitioners demanded that WhatsApp comply with Indian laws, especially by appointing a grievance officer to address consumer complaints and queries of investigative agencies.

On August 21, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad met WhatsApp Chief Executive Officer Chris Daniels in New Delhi. The minister suggested Daniels appoint a grievance officer.