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Twitter has complied with IT rules, says Centre
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, told Justice Rekha Palli that resident grievance officer (RGO), chief compliance officer (CCO) and nodal contact officer (NCO) have been appointed in compliance with the law.
The Union government on Tuesday informed the Delhi high court that micro-blogging website Twitter is prima facie in compliance with the new Information Technology Rules, 2021 for appointing three-tier grievance redressal officers.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, told Justice Rekha Palli that resident grievance officer (RGO), chief compliance officer (CCO) and nodal contact officer (NCO) have been appointed in compliance with the law.
He, however, said, “It would be better if our affidavit comes on record. The chief compliance officer, the nodal contact person and the resident grievance officer have been appointed and they (Twitter) are today in compliance with the law. That’s the email that I’ve received (from the instructing authority). It’s better to have an affidavit”.
The submissions came while hearing a plea filed by lawyer Amit Acharya who had contended that IT Rules came into effect from February 25 and the Centre had given three months to every social media intermediary, including Twitter, to comply with them.
However, the plea added that even after the lapse of the three-month period on May 25, till date no resident grievance officer has been appointed by Twitter to deal with complaints regarding tweets on its platform, due which, he could not take action against two alleged offensive tweets by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mohua Moitra and journalist Swati Chaturvedi.
Twitter later disposed of his plea saying the tweets in question were not offensive according to its policies.
On August 6, Twitter told the court it appointed Vinay Prakash, an Indian resident, as the RGO and CCO on August 4. It added that Shahin Komath has been employed as the NCO.
However, the Centre said the position was “yet to be verified” and had sought time to recheck the same.
Under Rule 3 of the new Rules, a social media intermediary must place a three-tier grievance redressal system and appoint a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer by May 25.
On Tuesday, senior advocate Sajjan Poovayya told the court that their affidavit was “on record”.
Following the submissions, the court granted time to the Centre to file an affidavit stating that Twitter has complied with the IT Rules.
Poovayya said the appointed persons will work on a full-time basis and are fully capable of performing the functions in terms of the law.
“Court gave us a long rope. Finally we have rectified the situation. We have permanent people occupying the position,” Poovayya submitted.
On July 28, the court slammed Twitter for appointing CCO and RGO as a “contingent worker” while giving it last opportunity to comply with the new IT Rules “wholeheartedly”.
Justice Palli had said it was “unacceptable” that the social media intermediary has not specified the third-party contractor via whom the services of the CCO and the RGO have been taken. The court had also expressed displeasure on the delay of appointment of nodal contact officer while taking strong exception to a contingent worker being hired as the RGO and CCO by Twitter.
Twitter, in an affidavit filed on July 13, told the court it has appointed an Indian resident as the CCO and RGO whose services have been taken via a third-party contractor. However, they would perform they functions and duties as per applicable law, it said, adding that it would require two weeks to appoint a nodal contact officer through a third party.
Twitter then asked for eight weeks to appoint the CCO, RGO and NCO as a direct employee and on a permanent basis.
Centre and Twitter have been locking horns over the compliance of the IT Rules. Twitter had said it was committed to India as a vital market, but criticised the new IT rules and regulations, which it added, “Inhibit free, open public conversation”.
Responding to the comments, the Centre said the messaging platform was levelling baseless and false allegations to defame India and dictating terms to the world’s largest democracy. The Centre added that only WhatsApp and Facebook have complied with the guidelines of appointing three separate officers for the grievance redressal.
On July 22, the Union government informed the Rajya Sabha that even though Twitter was non-compliant of the IT Rules till May 26, it has subsequently appointed an RGO and CCO and submitted its first compliance report in June this year.
