Without liberty of thought, one can't express oneself: Bombay HC on new IT rules

The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Union government what was the need to introduce the recently notified Information Technology Rules 2021 without superseding the existing IT Rules that came into effect in 2009A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni reserved its order on two petitions pleas seeking an interim stay on the implementation of the new RulesThe pleas filed by digital legal news portal Leaflet and journalist Nikhil Wagle raised objections to several provisions in the new rules and said these were likely to have a chilling effect on a citizens right to free speech as guaranteed by the ConstitutionThe petitioners also claimed the Rules went beyond the scope of the parent IT Act as well as the reasonable restrictions imposed on speech and expression by Article 19 2 of the ConstitutionOn Friday the bench said orally that it was inclined to grant limited relief to both petitioners over serial number nine of the new Rules that related to adherence to a code of ethicsEarlier during the days hearing Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the Centre defended the prescription of such ethics saying that even the Press Council of India PCI prescribed a code of ethics to be followed by journalistsAlso Read Governor obligated to accept or reject proposal in reasonable time Bombay HC on MLCs nomination rowThe bench however pointed out that PCI guidelines were advisory norms on behaviour and did not carry any drastic punishment for their breachHow can you put such an exalted status on the PCI guidelines That not following those guidelines will lead to penalty Unless you have the liberty of thought how can you express anything How can you restrict ones liberty of thought the bench saidSingh however said the petitioners fear of adverse action on breach of the new Rules were prematureHe said a specially designated committee that will be empowered to take action against those in breach of the new Rules particularly regulation numbers 14 and 16 that the petitioners were objecting to besides number nine was yet to be designatedSerial numbers 14 and 16 of the new Rules pertain to powers of an interdepartmental committee and to blocking of information in case of emergency respectivelyThe HC however said the above argument could not be accepted There is a catch hereYou may say there is no urgency or no committee But the sword is hanging on their heads the HC saidAdvocate Khambata who appeared for Leaflet and advocate Abhay Nevagi who appeared for Wagle further argued that the Union government had brought in the new Rules with more drastic checks on publishing content online by way of a delegated legislation However the Rules in effect would act like a substantive lawNevagi also told HC the new Rules sought to take away the protection granted against penal action to intermediaries under section 79 of the IT ActHe showed the bench a portion of the Centres affidavit filed in the case on Thursday which stated that the protection to an intermediary under Section 79 can be taken away if there is noncompliance with the new RulesThe HC said this was very serious and asked how could the rules take away protection granted by a lawUnder 69A 1 ii of the IT Act the 2009 Rules have been framed What was the necessity for the Union government to bring in subsequent rules without superseding the prior rules and create a substantive law through the Rules the HC further askedASG Singh however reminded the court it was presently dealing only with interim relief and not on the merits of the new RulesHe further said the Central government had felt the need to bring in the new Rules in order to check the spread of fake news illegal content etcThe HC said will pronounce its order on the interim relief sought via the pleas on SaturdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever