On Wednesday, the Information and broadcasting ministry wrote to chief secretaries of states and administrators of union territories, clarifying them that powers under Part III of the recently framed Information Technology Rules, 2021, have not been delegated to state governments, district magistrates, and police commissioners and news agency.
The ministry’s response came after a DM in Manipur withdrew a notice issued by him to a talk show under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which were notified on February 25.
The Centre had stepped in and directed the DM of Imphal to revoke the notice.
It was informed that Part-III of the Rules are administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. These powers have not been delegated to State Governments/District Magistrates/Police Commissioners,” the memorandum said.
The notice against the talk show was issued on March 1, served to them on the morning of March 2, and withdrawn the same evening after directions from the Centre. The show is hosted on the Facebook page of journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem, who has been jailed thrice by the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government.
On Tuesday, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar told the rules are very clear that a DM does not have the power to issue such a notice. The mechanism is mostly self-regulatory and only in very serious cases, they can complain to the ministry.
However, Secretary, I&B ministry, Amit Khare also wrote a letter to Manipur’s chief secretary Rajesh Kumar, informing him that powers under the new rules have not been delegated to state government/DMs/police commissioners. The new rules can be only administrated by the ministry, it added.