K'taka HC stays Rs 50 lakh fine on X Corp, subject to company depositing 50% of amount within a week
Bengaluru, Aug 10: A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday stayed a single judge bench order that had imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on X Corp (formerly Twitter) for not complying with IT Ministry orders -- subject to the company depositing 50 per cent of the amount (Rs 25 lakh) within one week.
The deposit is for X Corp to show its bonafides, the court said. The order of the single judge who had directed X Corp to deposit Rs 50 lakh by August 14 will be stayed till the next date of hearing.
"As such, on deposit of Rs 25 lakh, the order of the single judge bench is stayed until the next hearing date," the HC said.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MGS Kamal was hearing a petition by the micro-blogging site against the order of Justice Krishna S Dixit which had dismissed its petition challenging the take-down orders on tweets (posts), URLs and hashtags. The single judge bench had also imposed a cost on the company in its judgment on June 30.
On Thursday, the division bench in its interim order said, "We direct the appellant to deposit Rs 25 lakh within one week in this court."
The court however said that deposing the money "may not be treated as acceptance by this court that equity lies in favour of the appellant."
The single judge had held that the company did not comply with the orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) for more than a year and then approached the HC against those orders.
MeiTY had under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022 issued 10 Government orders directing it to block 1,474 accounts, 175 Tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag. X Corp (then Twitter) challenged the orders related to 39 of these URLs.
On Thursday, X Corp was represented by advocate Manu Kulkarni while the Central Government Counsel Kumar M N argued on behalf of MeiTY. The Government counsel argued that the case itself was not maintainable.
However, the division bench pointed out that the single judge bench had upheld the locus standi of X Corp to file the petition challenging the blocking of tweets and handles of its users.
Comparing X Corp to a shop selling various products, the HC observed that it was akin to taking action against the shopkeeper if there were substandard products on sale. After granting the temporary relief in the interim order, the division bench adjourned the hearing of the appeal by two weeks.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Karnataka procured 16 lakh expired RT-PCR kits during Covid wave: D’Cunha commission
Bengaluru: Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s committee has uncovered significant irregularities in the procurement of medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that more than 16 lakh RT-PCR test kits purchased by Karnataka in 2022 under the BJP-led government were either expired or close to their expiry dates.
After irregularities in PPE kit purchases, ventilators have also come under the scanner, with the report highlighting discrepancies amounting to Rs 173.26 crore in purchases made by the Medical Education Department.
The commission has also found that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd. (KSMSCL) that cancelled a supply order for one lakh Rapid Antigen (RAT) kits placed with a Singapore-based company in March 2020 — for delay in supplying — has not recovered the Rs 6.99 crore paid to the company towards the order, as reported by The Hindu on Thursday.
According to the 279-page report on procurements made by the KSMSCL that is compiled in part IV of the report, a payment of Rs 148.84 crore was made by KSMSCL to various suppliers and firms towards procurement of RT-PCR kits from 2020 to 2022.
The Commission’s report, as cited by the publication, stated that there were records indicating procurement of RT-PCR kits, RNA extraction kits and Viral transport media (VTM) of a total value of Rs 106.25 crore during the pandemic in Karnataka. However, according to the report, this procurement was made without administrative approval.
“Since the KSMSCL has failed to discharge its obligation and responsibility, the loss caused to the State exchequer to this extent is required to be replenished by the erring officers and/or officials of the KSMSCL as well as the officers and/or officials of the consignee designated laboratories who received the consignment,” the report said, pegging the losses due to expired kits supplied by companies at Rs 3.11 crore.
In response to the report’s findings, state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao criticised the saffron party for profiting from the pandemic. He promised accountability for the irregularities involving PPE kits and ventilators, stating that those responsible would face punishment.
