The Supreme Court on Thursday posted to July 19 the hearing of the Centre's petitions challenging the interim orders passed by High Courts staying some provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021).
The Centre has also filed petitions to transfer the cases in the High Courts to the Supreme Court. The Court had previously stayed the further proceedings in the petitions before the High Courts.
As regards the Centre's plea to vacate the interim orders granted by the High Courts, the Court said that it requires hearing of the other side.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before the bench of Justices A. M. Khanwilkar, A. S. Oka and J. S. Pardiwala :"We wanted an interim order in SLPs where the rules have been stayed. But that will need hearing...".
It may be noted that the High Courts of Kerala, Bombay and Madras have passed interim orders in the petitions challenging IT Rules 2021.
In March 2021, a single bench of the Kerala High Court granted interim relief in a petition filed by LiveLaw challenging the IT Rules by ordering that no coercive steps should be taken against it under the Rules. In June 2021, a similar interim relief was granted by the Kerala High Court to News Broadcasters Association.
In August 2021, a division bench of the Bombay High Court stayed the enforcement of "Code of Ethics" under the IT Rules on a petition filed by the company running the legal portal The Leaflet. The High Court prima facie observed that the said provisions infringe the fundamental right to freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) and also go against the substantive provisions of the Information Technology Act 2002.
Following that, in September 2021, the Madras High Court also stayed the enforcement of IT Rules against digital media observng that the oversight mechanism robs media of its independence.
Digital news portals "The Wire" & "The Quint" and social media intermediary Facebook have approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Rules.
On September 2, 2021, a bench led by the Chief Justice of India had directed the listing of the petitions relating to IT Rules after 6 weeks, on a request made by the SG.