The court also directed Twitter to file an affidavit notarized in the United States within 2 weeks regarding the appointment of interim officers, stating that they would take full responsibility for the tasks assigned to them.
“It is clarified that since no interim order has been passed by this court, while this court has given time to respondent No. 2 (Twitter Inc.) to file the affidavit, no protection has been provided. The Center is open to take action against the respondent 2 in case of any violation of the rules”, said a bench of Justice Rekha Palli.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned till July 28.
Senior advocate Sajan Poovaiya, representing Twitter, told the court that it was not even seeking any security.
“The consequence (of non-compliance) is that the protection to the middlemen is closed. I am not asking for any security”, he said.
The HC had on July 6 directed Twitter to inform by July 8 when it would appoint a Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) in compliance with the new IT rules.
The High Court had expressed displeasure on Twitter for the delay in the appointment of Grievance Redressal Officer in the last hearing.
After submission by Poovaiya, the High Court said, “Twitter seeks two weeks time to file the notarized affidavit of the Competent Officer of Respondent No. 2 (Twitter Inc.). Two weeks are given. Scanned copies Will be filed by Tuesday, July 13.” They will receive a notarized affidavit from the US and this will require some time.
While Twitter Inc’s India unit had appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) two days ago, an interim RGO and interim nodal liaison officer will be appointed by July 11 respectively and within two weeks, Poovaiya told the court and said That Twitter was “actively”. Recruitment to the permanent post”.
The HC, however, said the use of “interim” would not dilute the responsibilities imposed on these officers to ensure compliance with the new IT rules.
It said, ‘Tomorrow you can avail the ‘interim’. This (your stand) is neither in the letter (to the centre) nor in any affidavit.
Poovaiya also pointed out that since Twitter was in the process of setting up a liaison office in India, it could not hire “permanent employees”.
“Does not take the responsibility of the officer under the interim rules. Permanent employee without liaison office will have tax related issues etc. There is no difference in liability. ”, he told the bench.
Earlier in the day, Twitter had informed the Delhi High Court that it would endeavor to appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer within 8 weeks.
The company said that Twitter has posted job openings on all three posts. The San Francisco-based California-based company said it is setting up a liaison office in India.
Representing the government earlier in the day, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma had said that the IT rules were notified on February 25 and middlemen were given a window of three months to comply with the rules, which ended on May 25. Has occurred.
“We are on July 6. This is 42 days of complete non-compliance. They are welcome to do business in India. But this attitude is a blow on the digital sovereignty of this country,” he had argued.
Meanwhile, the judge said, “I have already told them that they have to follow the rules. I am not giving them any protection. If they are in defiance, you are free to take action. I have already made it clear that if they want to work they have to follow the rules.
The court filing came in a case against Twitter by a user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with new IT rules, which have been in place since the end of May. have become effective and this also requires the appointment of some new officers.
It had said that Twitter was violating the law as the appointment of a Grievance Officer was not required under the new IT rules.
India’s new IT rules that went into effect at the end of May are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making them more responsive to legal requests to swiftly remove posts and share details on originators of messages.
In recent weeks, as the tussle between New Delhi and Twitter escalated, police have filed at least five cases against the company or its executives, some related to child pornography, and its career page has an India page. Controversial map.
(with inputs from agencies)
.