Delhi court pulls up Twitter over non-compliance with new IT rules
TWITTER ASKED FOR EIGHT WEEKS TO APPOINT THE CCO, RGO AND NCO AS A DIRECT EMPLOYEE AND ON A PERMANENT BASIS
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday pulled up social media company Twitter for appointing a “contingent worker” as its Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and gave it “a last opportunity” to “wholeheartedly” comply with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules.
Justice Rekha Palli said that 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 also expressed displeasure on the delay of appointment of nodal contact officer (NCO).
Under Rule 3 of the IT Rules introduced on February 25, a social media intermediary was required to put in place a three-tier grievance redressal system and appoint a chief compliance officer, an NCO and a resident grievance officer by May 25. Twitter, in an affidavit filed on July 13, told the court that it has appointed an Indian resident as the CCO and RGO whose services were taken via a third party contractor. They would perform their functions and duties as per applicable law, it said adding that it would require two weeks to appoint a NCO through a third party.
Twitter asked for eight weeks to appoint the CCO, RGO and NCO as a direct employee and on a permanent basis. “I have a problem with the word ‘contingent worker’ because it gives the impression that it is based on some contingency. You are not using interim, but you are using a contingent. It is even worse. We do not know who this third party contractor is. I am not happy with this affidavit anyway,” Justice Palli said.
“I don’t know what your company wants to do. If you have to comply, it has to be done wholeheartedly. You have not specified the timeline by which the nodal contact officer will be appointed,” the court said. The judge, while rejecting Twitter’s affidavit, said that it showed “total non compliance with the rules” and gave one week to file their fresh stance on the compliance of the IT Rules.
“Last opportunity is given to file a better affidavit clearly setting out the details of the person who is stated to have been appointed as the CCO and RGO. Twitter will also give reasons why NCO was not appointed till now and by when could he be appointed,” the court noted in its order.
“Twitter continues to make every effort to comply with the new IT Rules 2021. We are committed to keeping the honourable court and the Government of India apprised of the progress at every step of the process,” Twitter said in a statement. The case deals with a plea by a lawyer Amit Acharya, who through his counsel Akash Vajpai, contended that IT Rules
and Union government gave three months to every social media intermediary, including Twitter, to comply with them.
On Wednesday, senior advocate Sajjan Poovaya, appearing for the social media intermediary, told the court that on July 27, they have verbally appointed a nodal contact officer but formal paperwork and announcement are yet to be done.