CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday barred the Centre from taking any coercive action against digital media platforms under the new ethics code of the Information Technology Rules without the court’s permission.
The First Bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu issued the interim order on petitions filed by the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation.The petitions challenging the provisions of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, were posted to January 25, 2022, by the court.
The court also directed the Union government to file counter-affidavits to the petitions on the issue, which stirred up a controversy across the nation following its notification.Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel PS Raman said some of the provisions were draconian and had been stayed by the Bombay High Court. He pointed out that the Kerala High Court too had barred the Centre from taking coercive action against the petitioners.
The ACJ, however, said the bench has reservations on the orders of the Bombay High Court granting interim stay on certain provisions of the rules, though the petitions challenged the constitutionality of the provisions.
The Madras High Court stayed operation of sub rules 1 and 3 of Rule 9 of the IT Rules in September this year while hearing petitions filed by musician TM Krishna and the Digital News Publishers Association. The court also concurred with the observations of the Bombay High Court on the oversight mechanism by the Centre to regulate the media.