The Center on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that Twitter was prima facie in compliance with new information technology norms by appointing Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and nodal contact person on a permanent basis.
Justice Rekha Palli, who was hearing a petition alleging non-compliance of IT rules by the US-based microblogging site, sought an affidavit from the Center to bring its stand on record within two weeks.
“Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person (NCP) and Resident Grievance Officer have been appointed in compliance with the law. This is the email I have received (from the directing authority). It is better to have an affidavit,” said Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma.
The court said Twitter’s affidavit on compliance with IT regulations was “finally on record”. Senior advocate Sajan Poovaiya, representing Twitter, said the company has appointed permanent officers for the posts of CCO, RGO and NCP.
Poovaiya said that the appointees will work on full time basis and are fully capable of performing the tasks as per law.
“The court gave us a long rope. Finally we have rectified the situation. We have permanent people who occupy the position,” Poovaiya submitted.
On July 28, the court had taken to Twitter to express displeasure over the appointment of a casual worker as CCO and held that the social media platform was not complying with the new IT regulations.
The court had said, “I am giving you a long rope, but it is not expected that the court will extend it.” The Center had also claimed that Twitter was acting in “non-compliance with the rules”.
The Center in its affidavit said that Twitter failed to comply with India’s new IT rules, which could lead to the loss of immunity granted under the IT Act.
The court had earlier given time to Twitter to file an affidavit showing compliance with the IT norms. Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, represented by senior advocate G Tushar Rao, claimed that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance of IT rules by Twitter when he tried to file a complaint against some of the tweets.
The Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines and Digital Code of Conduct) Rules, 2021 seek to regulate the dissemination and publication of content in cyberspace, including social media platforms, and were notified by the central government in February.
The next hearing of the case will be on October 5.
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