New Delhi: The Supreme Court was on Tuesday informed that an order blocking YouTube channel “4PM”, which has a subscriber base of 73 lakh, was withdrawn. “They have withdrawn the blocking order,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, informed a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by Sanjay Sharma, who is the editor of digital news platform 4PM, seeking quashing of an order blocking the channel.
The plea claimed the blocking was effected by the intermediary pursuant to an undisclosed direction allegedly issued by the Centre citing vague grounds of “national security” and “public order”. Sibal requested the bench that the plea be tagged with separate pending petitions which have challenged Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.
He said Sharma’s petition also sought quashing of Rule 16 of the 2009 Rules. Rule 16 says strict confidentiality shall be maintained regarding all the requests and complaints received and actions taken thereof.
The plea also sought striking down or reading down Rule 9 of the Blocking Rules, 2009, to mandate issuance of a notice, opportunity of hearing and communication of a copy of the interim order to the originator or creator of the content prior to passing of a final order.