Delhi HC slams Twitter over delay in key appointments, says govt is free to take any action
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New Delhi: In a major setback for Twitter in India, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday slammed the micro-blogging platform for inordinate delay in making key appointments in compliance with the country's new digital laws.
Expressing its displeasure over Twitter delaying the appointment of grievance redressal officer, Justice Rekha Palli of Delhi High Court said, "How long does your (Twitter's) process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long as it wants in our country, I'll not allow that."
A bench of Justice Rekha Palli told Twitter's counsel to come up with a clear response and sought information on Twitter's compliance with other provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021) by the next date of hearing.
The high court also told central government counsel that it can take action against Twitter if the rules are in violation.
The Centre submitted that Twitter India is in clear violation of IT Rules,2021 on four counts:
One being the chief compliance officer not being appointed, the position of the resident grievance officer being vacant, the position of the nodal contact person (even on an interim basis) being vacant; and physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, was not available on Twitter's website.
The central government counsel submitted before the court that Twitter was given a three-month window to comply with IT Rules, but they did not.
The counsel added that they are most welcome to do business in India, but they have to comply.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter India, submitted that an interim grievance officer was appointed, but he had withdrawn his candidature on June 21. The bench responded that after June 21, and till July 6, the least it could have done was appoint another person.
"How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," said the bench.
Poovayya sought time to seek instructions on the new appointment, which was allowed by the court, and it passed over the matter. Later, Poovayya submitted that he needs more time to obtain detailed instructions from San Francisco-based Twitter.
The bench observed that these rules are binding but Twitter has not appointed anyone till now. The court posted the matter for further hearing on Thursday and asked Twitter to inform by when it will appoint an RGO and other officials.
On May 31, the Delhi High Court had issued a notice to the microblogging platform on a plea by advocate Amit Acharya.
The plea had urged the high court to issue directions to the Centre to pass necessary instructions to Twitter India and Twitter Inc to appoint a resident grievance officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 without any delay.