Digital Bridge plea against VRG rejected

Court says cannot stop the mobile wallet bank account service provider from working

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has rejected the application of Digital Bridge by issuing a written order on the claim against giving the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) scheme to Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG) for providing mobile wallet bank account facility to cellular service users.

Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi issued a 35-page order on the suit filed by Digital Bridge against giving the AMA scheme to VRG.

The court order stated that Digital Bridge failed to prove its case. "The court cannot stop the VRG from working," it said.

The Digital Bridge, a global REIT that owns, operates and invests across the full spectrum of digital infrastructure and real estate including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells and edge infrastructure, had challenged the SBP's June 8, 2020 notification. According to the notification, AMA was given to VRG.

Digital Bridge had filed a suit that VRG did not meet the required standards, pleading the court that the notification issued by the SBP should be declared illegal. VRG should be stopped from working, however, SHC rejected the claim and ruled in favour of VRG.

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The government of Pakistan and SBP created a special category of account called 'Asaan Mobile Account (AMA)' with the intention of empowering the people to create and operate a banking account, using the USSD channel, and become a part of the banked population.

The USSD platform created by VRG was aimed at providing access to financial services to millions of unbanked Pakistanis, enabling them to reach banking services from any type of phone, without 3G, 4G, WiFi or internet.

A stay order was obtained against PTA and VRG to prevent it from undertaking any commercial activity through this platform, which was aimed at serving the people of Pakistan. However, on Wednesday, the court annulled the stay and ruled that it could not stop VRG from working.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2021.