Post Bombay HC order, AIADMK hopes TN govt’s fact-checking unit will be scrapped
The Bombay HC's order ascribed the amendment to the IT Rules as "unconstitutional" and violative of Articles 14 and 19 related to the right to equality and freedom of speech, respectively.
Tamil Nadu Government Secteriat
CHENNAI: Days after the Bombay High Court struck down the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules of 2023 that empowered the Union Government to set up fact-checking units, the social media wing of the state's principal opposition party, the AIADMK, exuded confidence that the Tamil Nadu government's fact-checking unit would soon cease operating.
The Bombay HC's order ascribed the amendment to the IT Rules as "unconstitutional" and violative of Articles 14 and 19 related to the right to equality and freedom of speech, respectively.
The ruling was passed by Justice A S Chandurkar who served as ‘tie-breaker judge’ after a division bench in January 2024 delivered a split verdict. Justice Chandurkar’s opinion will now be formally placed before a division bench for a final verdict.
The order is a bellwether to the Public Interest Litigation filed before the Madras High Court against a year-old fact-checking unit of the TN government, Joint Secretary of AIADMK's social media wing C T R Nirmal Kumar said on Sunday. He had filed the PIL against the fact-checking unit.
"When the PIL had come up for hearing on November 20, the Madras HC adjourned it to December 6 as it decided to wait for the outcome of a similar case in the Bombay HC against the Union Government," Nirmal Kumar stated and exuded confidence that the HC would take the order given by the 'tie-breaker judge' into consideration.
The AIADMK functionary said that he challenged the TN government for setting up the fact-checking unit as it would trample the voice of the opposition parties. "It will censor the voice of dissent, which is against the spirit of our Constitution, by simply calling them as misleading or wrong information. It is unacceptable in a democratic country like India," he said.
Nirmal Kumar, in his affidavit, wondered about the need for creating the unit when the Tamil Nadu police have an exclusive team to monitor the fake news. "We hope the Madras HC will reflect the Bombay HC's order and strike down the fact-checking unit here," he added.