The Delhi High Court has dismissed a writ petition seeking restoration of a Gmail account disabled after suspected unauthorised access.
Justice Amit Mahajan held on 8 October that providing email, hosting and related digital services is a commercial activity, not a public function ordinarily enforceable through Article 226 of the Constitution.
The importance of an account to a media business, or the scale and reach of the service provider, did not change the nature of that function. The court distinguished cases involving privacy and de-indexing of judicial records, where different public-law concerns were engaged.
It also held that intermediary obligations under the Information Technology Act and 2021 Rules do not automatically convert customer-support or account-restriction disputes into public duties. The petition was dismissed as not maintainable, while leaving the company free to pursue other legal remedies.