'We Are Not At Govt's Dictation' : Karnataka HC Expresses Displeasure At Centre's Repeated Requests To Adjourn Twitter Case Hearing

Central government counsel Kumar M N sought an adjournment of the hearing to either January 27 or on February 3. Without appreciating the request, the court said, “Apex court directions are there to hear the matter. It is such a very important matter”

A single judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit observed, “We are not at the government’s dictation like that…What people will think?...How many times have you taken the adjournment, see the order sheet.”

Further, the bench even remarked that due to repeated adjournments it may forget the arguments canvassed by senior advocate Arvind Datar and Ashok Haranhalli, made on behalf of the micro-blogging site. However, hesitantly the court gave a short adjournment and posted the matter for further hearing on January 18, with an oral direction to the Central government to make their arguments on the next date.

On the previous hearing on October 27, Twitter had argued that orders issued to it by the Central government for blocking certain user accounts directly affect those users' right to free speech and expression and thus, the orders must be communicated to them.

Senior Advocate Haranhalli on the day concluded the arguments for the company by saying that “There could not be an omnibus general blocking order unless the content violates grounds mentioned in Section 69 (A) of the IT Act and added that any violation of the statutory provisions by the State directly infringes the affected party's right to equality before law under Article 14 of the Constitution.”

Following which the court had posted the matter for hearing arguments of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Union government on November 16, 2022, but then time was sought and hearing was adjourned to January 9.

Case Title: TWITTER, INC v. UNION OF INDIA

Case No: WP 13710/2022