“After 21 June, till July 6, the least you could have done was appoint another person. How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that.” Justice Palli said, Bar&Bench reported.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday in a stern remark to social media giant Twitter said it can’t take as long as it wants to appoint a grievance officer in the country under the new IT Rules 2021.
Twitter is one of the few social media intermediaries to have missed the deadline for abiding by the new rules. For the grievance officer appointment, the company said it needed another two weeks.
The Bench of Justice Rekha Palli took objection to the fact that despite assurances on the last date of hearing, a Grievance Officer was not appointed.
Appearing for Twitter India today, Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya conceded that the social media giant was presently not in compliance with the IT Rules, 2021 as it did not have a Resident Grievance Officer. He stated that an interim Grievance Officer was appointed, but was removed on June 21.
“After 21 June, till July 6, the least you could have done was appoint another person. How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that.” Justice Palli said, Bar&Bench reported.
Poovayya then sought time to seek instructions on when the new appointment would be made. The Court allowed him to do so and passed over the matter.
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The Senior Counsel returned to seek more time to obtain detailed instructions from San Francisco-based Twitter. The Court granted two days for the same.
“Come up with a clear response, otherwise you will be in trouble,” the Court said, as it sought information on Twitter’s compliance with other provisions of the IT Rules, 2021 by the next date of hearing.
Twitter India’s interim grievance officer, Dharmendra Chatur had stepped down from his post weeks after his appointment. Jeremy Kessel who is the Global Legal Policy Director of Twitter is listed as the new grievance director.
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