Mumbai: Two new petitions have been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the recent amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021), including a provision for a fact-checking unit (FCU) to flag fake or false or misleading online content related to the government.
Following which the Centre said it will extend till July 10 its earlier statement that it won’t notify the FCU to identify fake news against the government on social media, even as two new petitions were filed challenging the recently amended IT Rules.
The Union government had in April told the HC that the FCU would not be notified till July 5. The statement was made by additional solicitor general Anil Singh during the hearing in a petition filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology Rules.
The petitions filed by Editors Guild of India (EGI) and the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) claim that the Rules are arbitrary and unconstitutional. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal appeared for EGI and advocate Aditi Saxena appeared for AIM.
All 3 petitions kept for hearing on July 6
A division bench of justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale has kept all three petitions for hearing on July 6. The court has requested counsels in all the three petitions to coordinate and not repeat the arguments.
Justice Patel said, “We make it clear that the three counsels will not be allowed to argue the same points. Coordinate with lead counsel.” Kamra’s petition will be treated as the lead petition since it was filed first.
“We shall take up the petitions for final disposal from July 6 onwards. The petitioners’ counsels shall complete their arguments on July 7 after which we shall set a date for the Union government to put forth their arguments,” the court said.
It added, “In view of the dates fixed for hearing, the Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh says that the statement made earlier by the Centre shall stand extended till July 10.”
An affidavit was filed by the Centre stating that the new rule essentially is to protect the fundamental right and interests of those who receive “untrue” information and aims to “harmoniously balance’’ both, interest of creator of content and recipient, as it “merely allows" such recipient to approach the grievance redressal mechanism of an intermediary first and the court later to have such content removed on the ground that the “intentionally misleading and patently false content” caused him or her harm.
Earlier, an affidavit was filed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) stating that the Union government’s impending Fact Checking Unit may only direct removal of false or misleading information pertaining to Government policies and programs, not satire or artist impression.
Union government promulgated certain amendments to the IT Rules
On April 6, 2023, the Union government promulgated certain amendments to the IT Rules including a provision for a fact-checking unit to flag fake or false or misleading online content related to the government.
The three petitions sought the court to declare the amended Rules unconstitutional and direct the government to restrain from acting against any individual under the Rules.
The Union government in its affidavit filed in comedian Kamra’s petition in April said that the “role of the fact-checking unit is restricted to any business of the Centre, which may include information about policies, programmes, notifications, rules, regulations, implementation thereof, etc”.
