SC transfers pleas against OTT Rules, Digital Media Ethics Code to Delhi HC

The Supreme Court on Friday directed multiple petitions challenging the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 pending before various high courts to be transferred to the Delhi high court.

A bench headed by justice Hrishikesh Roy passed the order on a transfer petition moved by the Central government requesting the top court to consolidate all petitions at one high court to avoid divergent opinions by various high courts including Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa and Madras high courts.

The bench, also comprising justice PK Mishra said, “In order to avoid contradictory judgments, the Union of India would wish to have all matters consolidated for analogous hearing. Since a large number of these cases are pending consideration before the Delhi high court, we deem it appropriate to transfer the matters in various HCs to the Delhi high court.”

Advocate Rajat Nair appearing for the Union government told the Court that at present, the Delhi high court is hearing five matters on the challenge to the 2021 Rules and it will be convenient for lawyers to appear before it.

Senior advocate CU Singh pointed out that in several matters being heard by the high court, interim orders granting protection to digital media outlets were in operation that should not be disturbed. The top court directed the concerned high courts to transfer the case records to the Delhi high court in four weeks.

In May 2022, the top court while hearing these matters had passed a blanket order staying all present and future proceedings, both pending and those likely to be filed before various high courts challenging the validity of the 2021 Rules. The order was passed in the context where several high courts proceeded with the hearing on the Rules. In all 15 such cases were pending in various HCs filed by by individuals and news organisations such as Foundation for independent Journalism (publisher of The Wire), Quint Digital Media, Press Trust of India, Pravda Media Foundation, Live Law Media Private Limited, and Digital News Publishers Association.

The IT Rules 2021 introduced in February 2021 applied to digital news media platforms, social media intermediaries and OTT platforms, bringing all digital media functionaries under a three-tier oversight mechanism. This comprised a grievance officer to deal with complaints to take down indecent content within 24 hours of a complaint. The two remaining tiers of the oversight system consisted of a self-regulatory body of experts headed by a former judge, and an inter-departmental committee headed by a senior bureaucrat of the information and broadcasting ministry.

The petitions claimed that the Rules “curtail and restrict” the freedom of press and the conditions imposed under the guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code were onerous and beyond the scope of the Information Technology Act, 2000. As an illustration, it pointed out that the use of vague words such as “good taste” and “decency” in the Ethics Code gave “pervasive control to State over published content”.

The Centre, on the other hand, claimed that the Rules are intended to provide speedy redressal of complaints to enable taking down harmful content, personally intimate pictures or videos of individuals within 24 hours. Further, the Rules require media functionaries to cooperate with the Centre and investigating agencies for purposes of verification of identity, detection and prevention of crimes, and investigation or prosecution of offences. Hindustan Times