Amended IT Rules: Third judge reserves order in interim pleas seeking stay on notifying FCU

On January 31, a division bench of the Bombay High Court had delivered a split verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the amended IT Rules.

While Justice Gautam S Patel had agreed with the petitioners’ contentions and struck down the amendment, Justice Neela K Gokhale upheld the government’s side. Thereafter, under the HC Rules, Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya assigned Justice Chandurkar to give opinion as the third judge.

The petitioners in the matter — stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, Editors Guild of India, News Broadcasters and Digital Association Association of Indian Magazines — had filed interim application seeking stay on effect of FCU

On Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the applications stating that the provision is in public interest.

He argued, “A statement was made (by the Centre), but now there is a split verdict, we would be failing people at large if the statement continues depriving people at large of knowing the truth. Especially when intermediaries are not before the court.”

When Justice Chandurkar referred to applicants’ argument that no instance of adverse impact of non-notification of FCU since April last year being shown by the Centre, Mehta argued that nothing has come to the Centre as there was no FCU and if it was in place, we would have shown the data of fake, false and misleading content.

On Wednesday, senior advocate Navroz Seervai for Kamra and advocates Gautam Bhatia and Shadan Farasat for other applicants stated that earlier the government had assured it will not notify the FCU till the final judgement of the division bench.

However, the final judgement in the present scenario will be reached after the third judge gives an opinion and status quo be maintained till then, Seervai had argued.

Justice Chandurkar will pass his order in interim pleas in due course, after which he will conduct hearing on merits of the plea to render his opinion on the same.