The High Court today issued a rule asking the authorities to show cause as to why their failure and inaction to refund the money of e-commerce customers should not be declared illegal.

In the rule, the HC asked the authorities to explain in four weeks why they should not be directed to refund the money of customers halted at payment gateways for failure of product delivery.

Commerce secretary, Bangladesh Bank governor, general manager of payment system department and director of World Trade Organization (WTO) Cell under the commerce ministry, different mobile financial services and payment gateways have been made respondents to the rule.

The bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah issued the rule following a writ petition filed by Conscious Consumers Society (CCS), a rights organisation, seeking necessary order on this issue.

The petitioner's lawyer Sabrina Zarin told The Daily Star that customers have paid huge amounts of money (reportedly Tk 200-500 crore) for purchasing products from e-commerce platforms, but they did not get their products nor refund.

The customers are supposed to get their money back if they are not given the products, she said, adding that the money has been kept at the payment gateways but have not been given back to the consumers.