Delhi High Court refuses to grant interim relief (for now) to The Wire, The Quint, AltNews in challenge to IT Rules 2021
Last Updated on July 7, 2021 by Administrator
By Sarasa
The Delhi High Court today rejected to give interim relief in the challenges to the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, filed by news websites The Wire, The Quint, and AltNews (IT Rules, 2021).
The Central government and other respondents have been given time to answer to the pleas for interim relief filed in relation to the Rules by a bench consisting of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.
Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, who appeared for the petitioners today, sought the Court to award temporary protection from coercion under the Rules for the time being. The Court, on the other hand, declined, and the case was rescheduled for August 20.
Pravda Foundation, the parent firm of AltNews, filed the most recent application for interim relief. When the case was heard, a vacation bench listed Pravda’s claim for interim relief before the regular bench on July 7.
The IT Rules,2021, are being challenged as being in violation of Articles19(1) (a),19(1) (g),14, and 21 of the Constitution because they impose government control and a Code of Ethics, which goes beyond the scope of the parent Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Court had served notice on the Central government on both the writ petition and the plea for stay on the IT Rules, 2021 filed by The Quint on March 19, this year. The Centre had requested and received additional time to file a response. No such response, however, had been submitted.
