The Centre on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that Twitter Inc has appointed permanent officers as required under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, submitted before the court that renewed affidavits have been placed on record. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, confirmed that the social media giant seemed to have complied with the IT rules.
Sharma and senior advocate Tushar Rao, appearing for the petitioner, sought some time to file a short reply to the counter affidavit filed by Twitter. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on October 5.
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On August 6, Twitter Inc had informed the Delhi High Court that it has appointed employees at the positions of Chief Compliance Officer and Resident Grievance Officer, and Nodal Contact Person, in compliance with provisions of new IT rules.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, had submitted that renewed affidavits have been filed in the court. "Twitter, Inc initially hired Vinay Prakash through a third party contractor. The initial appointment was done to expedite it because Twitter, Inc did not have a corporate presence in India. The appointment was considered contingent because Twitter, Inc expected to convert the position to a full-time employee as soon as practicable. Twitter Inc has since converted Prakash to a full-time employee effective August 4, 2021", said Twitter in its affidavit.
The affidavit added that Prakash is fully capable of performing the functions of Chief Compliance Officer and Resident Grievance Officer as per the new IT rules. And, it added that Shahin Komath has been appointed as Nodal Contact Person.
Justice Rekha Palli recorded that Twitter looks to have complied with the court's orders and listed the matter for further hearing on August 10.
The High Court was hearing a plea filed by Amit Acharya, through advocate Akash Vajpai, against the non-compliance by Twitter India and Twitter Inc with the new IT rules.