Madras HC stays some IT rules

Second court setback after Bombay HC stayed key sections of rules last month

The Madras High Court on Thursday stayed the operation of certain sub-clauses of the recently introduced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, holding there was prima facie substance in the petitioners’ contention that a control mechanism would rob the media of its independence and democratic principles.

Incidentally, the Bombay High Court had last month pronounced similar order on a related case.

The sub-clauses — (1) and (3) of Rule 9, which were stayed on Thursday, stipulated the adherence to the Code of Ethics. They were inserted to the original IT

Rules in February this year.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu granted the stay while passing interim orders on a batch of PILS from carnatic musician T M Krishna and Digital News

Publishers Association, consisting of 13 media outlets and another individual, challenging the constitutional validity of the new rules.

Prima facie, there is substance in the contention of the petitioners that the mechanism to control the media by government may rob the media, both print and electronic, of their independence and the democratic principles, the Bench said.

Court says there’s substance in the contention that govt control may rob the media of independence and democratic principles