Received the following email from the Registry today:
National Internet Exchange of India (hereinafter referred to as NIXI) is the official .IN registry for the purpose of running .IN and .Bharat domain registry and therefore for granting the said domain names, NIXI enters into agreements with various entities to be known as Registrars. These Registrars are accredited to offer .IN and .Bharat domain name, registration services to the users/ registrants. NIXI in view of the above entered into an agreement dated 24/02/2014 with "MITSU INC" appointing it as an accredited registrar for offering the registration services of .IN domain names to the users/registrants.
"MITSU INC" was appointed by the NIXI as an accredited registrar for .BHARAT domain names vide the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) dated 09.09.2014.
In January 2017, NIXI received a complaint forwarded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India raising serious allegations against "MITSU INC".
On 03/06/2017 NIXI received another complaint against "MITSU INC" from one Mr. Dheerendra Jaiswal, alleging that Mr. Sanjeev Goyal operating "MITSU INC" was inter-alia claiming to be an influential person with respect to NIXI, was also representing him to be an agent of NIXI, he also represented that he has his servers placed right next to NIXI's, giving him the edge to register domains, he can get the policies at registry modified and amended as per his will, that he could influence the CEO NIXI and a lot of other such claims were made. On 20.07.2017, NIXI also received certain audio clips from Mr. Dheerendra Jaiswal substantiating the above.
On 21.08.2017, NIXI received another complaint against Mr. Sanjeev Goyal operating "MITSU INC" from one Mr. Deepak Singhal alleging mal practices of charging higher price for the domain which is in violation of the .IN Registrar Accreditation Agreement.
On 22.09.2017, pursuant to receipt of the above complaints, the legal department of NIXI was constrained to issue a show cause notice dated 22.09.2017 to "MITSU INC". It is pertinent to mention here that NIXI is not an investigating or an enforcement authority but rather a supervisory body engaged in domain registry services.
That "MITSU INC" instead of replying to the above show cause notice preferred to have asked for confidential information such as IP addresses of the complainants, thereby loosing the confidence of NIXI. NIXI was constrained to pass a Termination order dated 20/10/2017, terminating the Registrar Accreditation Agreements with "MITSU INC".
That "MITSU INC" thereafter invoked the Arbitration and the matter was referred to the Arbitral Tribunal under the aegis of the Delhi International Arbitration Center. The Arbitral Award was passed on 14/08/2020 thereby declaring that the Termination order dated 20.10.2017 as illegal since according to the Arbitral Tribunal the Show Cause Notice was not issued in accordance with the terms of the agreement and no efforts were made by NIXI to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the alleged complaints before passing the termination order. However the Tribunal held that "MITSU INC" is not entitled to restoration of the domain names under the Agreements.
The Tribunal has further directed NIXI to CLEARLY inform each of the erstwhile Registrants individually that the termination of "MITSU INC" accreditation was found to be illegal and that the Registrants have a choice now to shift to any Registrar of their choice.
The Tribunal has further directed that NIXI shall post a specific statement clarifying that the tribunal has found that the termination of "MITSU INC" Accreditation by NIXI was illegal and all allegations of wrongdoing against "MITSU INC" stands dismissed.
In view of the above it is hereby clarified that the termination of "MITSU INC" Accreditation by NIXI was found illegal by the Arbitral Tribunal and therefore all allegations of wrong doing against "MITSU INC" stands dismissed. The Registrants have a choice now to shift to any Registrar of their choice. In Case any Registrants require any guidance in writing from NIXI, the same shall be made available immediately.
THE SAME IS HEREBY INFORMED AND CLARIFIED TO ALL CONCERNED.
BEST REGARDS
TEAM NIXI
National Internet Exchange of India (hereinafter referred to as NIXI) is the official .IN registry for the purpose of running .IN and .Bharat domain registry and therefore for granting the said domain names, NIXI enters into agreements with various entities to be known as Registrars. These Registrars are accredited to offer .IN and .Bharat domain name, registration services to the users/ registrants. NIXI in view of the above entered into an agreement dated 24/02/2014 with "MITSU INC" appointing it as an accredited registrar for offering the registration services of .IN domain names to the users/registrants.
"MITSU INC" was appointed by the NIXI as an accredited registrar for .BHARAT domain names vide the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) dated 09.09.2014.
In January 2017, NIXI received a complaint forwarded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India raising serious allegations against "MITSU INC".
On 03/06/2017 NIXI received another complaint against "MITSU INC" from one Mr. Dheerendra Jaiswal, alleging that Mr. Sanjeev Goyal operating "MITSU INC" was inter-alia claiming to be an influential person with respect to NIXI, was also representing him to be an agent of NIXI, he also represented that he has his servers placed right next to NIXI's, giving him the edge to register domains, he can get the policies at registry modified and amended as per his will, that he could influence the CEO NIXI and a lot of other such claims were made. On 20.07.2017, NIXI also received certain audio clips from Mr. Dheerendra Jaiswal substantiating the above.
On 21.08.2017, NIXI received another complaint against Mr. Sanjeev Goyal operating "MITSU INC" from one Mr. Deepak Singhal alleging mal practices of charging higher price for the domain which is in violation of the .IN Registrar Accreditation Agreement.
On 22.09.2017, pursuant to receipt of the above complaints, the legal department of NIXI was constrained to issue a show cause notice dated 22.09.2017 to "MITSU INC". It is pertinent to mention here that NIXI is not an investigating or an enforcement authority but rather a supervisory body engaged in domain registry services.
That "MITSU INC" instead of replying to the above show cause notice preferred to have asked for confidential information such as IP addresses of the complainants, thereby loosing the confidence of NIXI. NIXI was constrained to pass a Termination order dated 20/10/2017, terminating the Registrar Accreditation Agreements with "MITSU INC".
That "MITSU INC" thereafter invoked the Arbitration and the matter was referred to the Arbitral Tribunal under the aegis of the Delhi International Arbitration Center. The Arbitral Award was passed on 14/08/2020 thereby declaring that the Termination order dated 20.10.2017 as illegal since according to the Arbitral Tribunal the Show Cause Notice was not issued in accordance with the terms of the agreement and no efforts were made by NIXI to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the alleged complaints before passing the termination order. However the Tribunal held that "MITSU INC" is not entitled to restoration of the domain names under the Agreements.
The Tribunal has further directed NIXI to CLEARLY inform each of the erstwhile Registrants individually that the termination of "MITSU INC" accreditation was found to be illegal and that the Registrants have a choice now to shift to any Registrar of their choice.
The Tribunal has further directed that NIXI shall post a specific statement clarifying that the tribunal has found that the termination of "MITSU INC" Accreditation by NIXI was illegal and all allegations of wrongdoing against "MITSU INC" stands dismissed.
In view of the above it is hereby clarified that the termination of "MITSU INC" Accreditation by NIXI was found illegal by the Arbitral Tribunal and therefore all allegations of wrong doing against "MITSU INC" stands dismissed. The Registrants have a choice now to shift to any Registrar of their choice. In Case any Registrants require any guidance in writing from NIXI, the same shall be made available immediately.
THE SAME IS HEREBY INFORMED AND CLARIFIED TO ALL CONCERNED.
BEST REGARDS
TEAM NIXI
