Kunal Kamra challenge to IT Rules Amendment: Central government tells Bombay High Court Fact Check Unit won't be notified till July 5

The Central government Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that it will not notify till July 5, the formation of fact checking body which is empowered under the Information Technology Rules to identify and tag what it considers false or fake online news with respect to any activity of the Central government..The statement was made before a division bench of Justices GS Patel and Neela Gokhale in response to a plea by stand up comic Kunal Kamra challenging the recent amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021)..Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and advocates Aditya Thakker and DP Singh appeared for the Union government made the statement on instructions. He requested the division bench to list the plea for directions on June 8, 2023.Senior Advocate Darius Khambata and Arti Raghavan, appearing for Kamra, opposed the adjournment raising apprehension that the notification once it comes out, will apply to content retrospectively.The Court, however, did not find this a reason to immediately hear the plea for the prayer on stay or suspension of the amended rules."The rule will not be operable for fact check unit till it is notified. Even if matter is heard for ad-interim, it will require full hearing, covering all ground and that is likely to be heard for final disposal. We do not see why the same material has to be heard twice when it can be disposed off at stage of admission" the court recorded in its order. The plea is now listed for hearing on June 8.Kamra has also been permitted to amend his petition to challenging the competence of the executive to frame the amendment rules..Kamra moved the Court challenging the revised Rule 3(1)(b)(v) and seeking a declaration that rule 3(i)(II)(A), (C) to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 be held ultra vires section 79 of the Information Technology Act and Article 14 and 19(1)(a), (g) of the Constitution..His contention is that the amendment to the rule will lead to telecom service providers and social media intermediaries to take action against content flagged by the fact checking unit.Failing this, they would lose the safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.Kamra has also been permitted to amend his petition to challenging the competence of the executive to frame the amendment rules..MeitY's affidavit has opposed the petition stating that false and misleading information could impact the electoral democracy and weaken the trust of citizens in democratic institutions.The division bench however expressed its prima facie opinion that as opposed to the affidavit, the rules did not seem to offer protection to fair criticism of the government like parody and satire.