A total of six petitions have been filed over the IT Rules by various news outlets like The Quint, The Wire, and Live Law; most of them arguing that the Rules are vague and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will hear a transfer petition by the government of all cases involving the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 filed by news organisations on July 16, Bar & Bench reported. In a hearing on Friday, the court refused to immediately stay the matter and instead, tagged it with another matter for hearing on July 16. The government's transfer petition was first filed in April, but according to records on the Supreme Court's website, procedural defects delayed the case until its hearing today. The Friday order has not yet been updated on the Supreme Court's website. The cases consolidated by the government for transfer don't appear to include those cases filed by non-media entities; for instance, Facebook or WhatsApp aren't mentioned as one of the nine respondents by the government in the Supreme Court's website, indicating that the messaging platform's petition against the traceability requirement stated in the Rules will continue to proceed at the Delhi High Court. What cases does the govt want transferred? Per the Supreme Court's website, the following cases against the IT Rules' provisions by digital news outlets seem to be the ones that the government wants to move from various High Courts to the apex court. Foundation for Independent Journalism v. Union of…
