The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced yesterday that has begun the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure (DARTP) to help transfer current Net4 India domain registrants to another ICANN-accredited registrar that is in good standing. ICANN had initially announced in February that Net 4 India’s registrar accreditation agreement (RAA) will be terminated on March 13 due to multiple complaints against the registrar, but the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) stayed this termination after Net 4 India's appeal. The stay was finally lifted on April 27, allowing ICANN to initiate the next step. Net4 India has been embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings for years now, leaving customers unable to renew or transfer their domains. ICANN tried processing complaints by liaising with a tribunal-appointed resolution professional but made no headway. ICANN has said that multiple issues including non-payment of dues were brought to Net4 India but the company did not address any of them. Why couldn't registrants transfer out? Due to the NCLT order, many domain registrants were left stuck with Net4 India. Larger companies like Maruti Suzuki were able to appeal with the NCLT and get their domains migrated to another registrar, but smaller companies were left with no reprieve. On April 15, multiple people complained that their websites registered with Net4 India went offline without prior notice. On April 18, ICANN filed an affidavit with the NCLT asking them to take action soon to protect users. The affidavit mentioned complaints against Net4 India by large entities like Delhi Metro, Power Grid…
