Kunal Kamra’s plea against IT Rules: Fact Check Unit for online content won’t be notified till July 5, Centre tells Bombay HC

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh on instructions from the officials of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the ‘Fact Check Unit’ (FCU) set up to identify “fake news” published online related to the government will not be notified till July 5. The FCU is stipulated under recently amended Information Technology (IT) Rules.

“We believe this is not a need to immediately suspend the rule as it stands as it cannot operate without the notification. The moment the matter is heard for ad interim relief, it will require a detailed hearing,” a division bench led by Justice Gautam S Patel noted.