Trying to bring back Section 66A through backdoor entry: Plea in Karnataka High Court challenging IT Rules, 2021; Centre's reply sought

The Karnataka High Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government in a petition seeking to declare Rule 3(1)(d) and Rule 7 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021) (IT Rules, 2021) as ultra vires and unconstitutional [Charita V v. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology]..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice NS Sanjay Gowda issued notice in the petition filed by Advocate Charita V..The respondents, including the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, were directed to file their statements of objections to the petition by September 3..The petition stated that the Rules introduced by the Central government are violative of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to citizens.."There are various terms stated in the IT Rules, 2021, such as decency, morality, public order etc which are vague and not defined in either the rules or the principal legislation which it relies on. Therefore, in the absence of definite terms of interpretation there is a possibility that the executive which is tasked with the authority of interpreting IT rules, would be given a wide discretion of powers which would in turn defeat the purpose of the rules and the same is likely to be misused due to lack of boundaries and lack of proper interpretation," the plea reads..It is further contended that the Centre, under the garb of regulating media and bringing in certain checks and balances, wants to indirectly curb, restrict and prevent the free circulation of information, which is pivotal for the growth of any democracy..The petitioner also stated that the respondents are trying to bring in the struck down Section 66A of the IT Act through a backdoor entry, in the form of the IT Rules, 2021. After making a comparison between Section 66A and Rule 3 (1)(d), the petition states,"It (Rules) is trying to bring in additional grounds for laying down curbs under the grounds of defamation, decency or morality.".As interim relief, the petitioner sought for suspension of Rules 3 (1)(d) and Rule 7, and a direction to the respondents to not initiate any coercive action in the form of penalties, blocking of access as against publishers, intermediaries and citizens for non-compliance of the IT Rules 2021..The matter will be next heard on September 6. The petition has been filed through Advocate Chinmay Mirji.