New IT rules: Madras High Court grants more time to Centre to file counter-affidavit

The Madras High Court on Friday granted 10 more days to the Centre to file its counter-affidavit in response to a batch of PIL pleas challenging the new Information Technology (IT) Rules. The First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu which granted time to the central government to file its counter, posted the matter for hearing after 15 days.

The petitions filed by Carnatic music singer T M Krishna, Digital News Publishers of India, former Editor of The Hindu, N Ram and a senior journalist sought to declare the recently notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, as ultra vires of the Constitution and the parent Information Technology Act, passed in 2000.