Unconstitutional, says HC, strikes down Centre's fact check unit

MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Thursday pronounced its ruling and struck down the Centre's fact check unit (FCU) rule. HC declared the amendment to IT Rules, 2021, " unconstitutional " and struck down the rule to establish FCUs to identify "fake, false and misleading" information about the Centre's business posted on social media and digital platforms.

Following third judge Justice A S Chandurkar's opinion, a bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Neela Gokhale allowed the petitions filed by comedian Kunal Kamra , Editors Guild of India, Association of Indian Magazines, and News Broadcasters and Digital Association. The bench said, "In view of the majority opinion, rule 3(1)(v) is declared unconstitutional. Petitions are accordingly allowed."

Justice Chandurkar observed the rule was vague, over-broad and disproportionate, thus accepting all major contentions raised by Kamra and others , citing its "chilling effect". By a 2:1 rule, HC has held the April 2023 amendment as "unconstitutional". The rule enables the Centre to set up its FCU to tag as 'fake, false and misleading' content on social media regarding its functioning. As is the procedure, once the third judge's opinion is in, the matter has to be placed before the division bench for the formal pronouncement of the judgment. SC had in March stayed the rule. . The Centre has the option of challenging HC ruling before SC.