'We'll Go Ahead' : Madras High Court Says It Will Hear Challenge To IT Rules Despite Centre's Transfer Plea In Supreme Court

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Union Government to file a counter-affidavit on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology (Guidelines For Intermediaries And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified by the Centre on February 25.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed that counter-affidavit be filed by the Union Government within 2 weeks.

This order comes after Union submitted before the Court that it has filed a transfer plea to get all the similarly paced matters pending before the different High Courts transferred before the Supreme Court.

To this, Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee asked the Union:

"Merely because you filed a transfer application, does that mean that proceedings before the High Court have stayed? Proceedings have not been stayed. The union should file a counter affidavit within a fortnight, and the matter to appear after 3 weeks. Since there is no stay on the proceedings, we will go ahead with the matter. The Supreme Court will have the benefit of the opinion of the High Court."

It may be noted that the Supreme Court last week posted to July 16 the petition filed by the Central Government seeking to transfer to the top court petitions filed in High Courts of Delhi and Kerala challenging the Information Technology (Guidelines For Intermediaries And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The pleas before the High Court

Last month, the Madras High Court had issued a notice on a writ petition filed by acclaimed Carnatic vocalist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee TM Krishna who has challenged the rule claiming that they impose "arbitrary, vague, disproportionate and unreasonable" restrictions on digital news media and social media intermediaries.

Read more about it here: 'IT Rules Offend My Rights As An Artist & Cultural Commentator': Musician TM Krishna Moves Madras High Court

The Madras High Court last month also issued a notice in a plea filed by the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) as well as journalist Mukund Padmanabhan, challenging the constitutionality of the IT, and seeking a declaration of the same as "ultra vires, void and violative of Articles 14, Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India".

Read more about it here: 'Legacy Media Houses Wrongfully Classified As Digital Media': DNPA Moves Madras High Court Against IT Rules

In March, online news media 'The Wire' approached the Delhi High Court, followed by 'The Quint'. The Kerala High Court has granted interim protection from coercive action under Part III of the Rules to 'LiveLaw' in a petition filed by it against the Rules. Kannada news portal 'Pratidhwani' has approached the Karnataka High Court against the Rules.

Recently, WhatsApp moved the Delhi High Court challenging the 'traceability clause' under Part II of the Rules. Later, Google also approached the Delhi High Court against the Rules.

Last week, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Central Government on a plea moved by Press Trust Of India (PTI), challenging the constitutional validity of Part III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.