{"id":138482,"date":"2021-09-30T20:57:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T15:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=138482"},"modified":"2021-10-01T19:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T14:10:01","slug":"the-it-rules-fail-the-test-of-constitutionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-it-rules-fail-the-test-of-constitutionality\/","title":{"rendered":"The IT Rules fail the\u00a0test of constitutionality\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/strong> In this article, we will analyze the IT Rules 2021. How it poses danger to the freedom of speech and expression. We will discuss the various orders passed by the High Courts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Recently,\u00a0the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/span> were notified on\u00a0February 25.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, there are more than 18 petitions challenging the constitutionality of the IT Rules in various high courts.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the various High Court orders wrt the rules?<\/b><\/h5>\n

The interim orders emerged in three cases.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1)<\/span> Kerala High Court<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The order of the Kerala High Court restrained any action against the petitioner. The order stays a regulation framed by the central government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2) <\/span>Bombay High Court<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bombay High Court\u00a0also\u00a0stayed two core provisions<\/strong> sub-rules (1) and (3) of Rule 9 of the IT Rules that govern online news media platforms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rule 9 <\/strong>required compliance with a \u201ccode of ethics\u201d that would be applied by a three-tiered structure presided over by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. <\/span> \u00a0As per the court, the provisions for media governance go far beyond the allowance permitted by the principal provisions of the Information Technology Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

The court reasons that the compliances under the \u201ccode of ethics\u201d either lack the force of law, or have a distinct statutory framework such as under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, as per court, under IT Rules, people would be starved of the liberty of thought and feel suffocated to exercise their right of freedom of speech and expression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Madras High Court<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The court confirmed the pan-India effect of the earlier decision by the High Court of Bombay. Hence, today the IT Rules are broadly inapplicable to digital news media outlets.<\/p>\n

What do the orders of the courts signify?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The interim\u00a0orders\u00a0show\u00a0judicial consensus. According to the courts, the IT Rules conflict with our constitutional freedoms in two clear ways.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First<\/b><\/em>, they lack statutory backing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second<\/b><\/em>, they substantially harm the freedom of speech and expression of users of the internet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This has resulted in an effective restraint on the provisions against online news portals and social media platforms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How has Union Govt responded?<\/b><\/h5>\n

The Union government has filed a transfer petition before the Supreme Court. This would effectively transfer and bundle all existing challenges without serving \u201ctransparency, accountability and rights of users\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The IT Rules achieve the very opposite of such\u00a0goals.\u00a0The best solution is to recall the IT Rules.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article “<\/span>The IT Rules fail the test of constitutionality<\/span><\/b>” published in\u00a0<\/span>The Indian Express<\/span><\/b>\u00a0on\u00a0<\/span>30th September 2021.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: In this article, we will analyze the IT Rules 2021. How it poses danger to the freedom of speech and expression. We will discuss the various orders passed by the High Courts.\u00a0 Introduction\u00a0 Recently,\u00a0the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were notified on\u00a0February 25.\u00a0 Today, there are more than… Continue reading The IT Rules fail the\u00a0test of constitutionality\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[8782,216,10084,7622],"class_list":["post-138482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-government-policies-and-interventions","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-information-technology-rules","tag-it-rules","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704948836},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}