Delhi HC issues notice to Twitter on petition of alleged non-compliance of IT Rules 2021

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to Twitter after a petition was filed against it for alleged non-compliance of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Twitter Inc told Delhi High Court that it has complied with the new IT Rules and already appointed a Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 on May 28.

A single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli asked the Centre and Twitter Inc to file a reply on the petition and listed the matter for July 6.

The petitioner, advocate Akash Vajpai, however, argued that the appointment is not as per the rules.

Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya appearing for Twitter Inc, told the High Court that there was not compliance at the date of filing of the petition but now Twitter has complied with the rules and a Resident Grievance Officer has been appointed.

Justice Palli said that there is no choice if there are rules.

The Court was hearing a petition seeking direction to the Union of India to pass necessary instruction to Twitter Communication India Private Limited and Twitter Inc to appoint Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without delay.

The petitioner said that he had filed a petition seeking an appropriate Writ or instruction against Respondent Centre Govt and Twitter to perform its statutory and executive duty under the IT Rules.

According to Rule 4(c) of the IT Rule, every Significant Social Media Intermediary has to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer, who shall be responsible for the functions referred to in sub-rule (2) of rule 3, stated the petition.

The petition was filed by Amit Acharya, a practicing Advocate in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court, through his lawyers Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar.

Every SSMI (significant social media intermediary) is also required to develop a mechanism for receipt of complaint in relation to violation of any provision under the aforesaid rule and will provide a ticket number through which every complainant would be able to track the status of their complaint.

Moreover, It is also the responsibility of the SEM to provide reason for any action taken or not taken while disposing complaints, the petitioner said.

The petition pointed out that the IT Rules came into force on February 25 and the Respondent Centre had given three months to every SSMI to comply with these Rules. "At this juncture, it is also important to mention Twitter has not only failed to appoint Resident Grievance Officer but has also not appointed Nodal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer," the petition said.

The petitioner has urged the Court to issue direction to Centre Union of India to pass necessary instruction/order to Twitter to appoint Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the new IT Rules.

He also sought appropriate direction against the respondent to discharge their executive, statutory and all other obligations without any delay.

( With inputs from ANI )