Karnataka HC adjourns Twitter takedown case reluctantly

Bengaluru: Following a request by the central government, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday once again adjourned the hearing of the petition by Twitter against the government’s takedown orders.

Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan informed the court that the Solicitor General was arguing another case before a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court and he had just returned after a bout of illness. He sought the adjournment of the hearing to February 7.

The HC asked the advocate for Twitter whether he would consent to the adjournment. The court said that it would adjourn the case only if the petitioner assented.

The advocate for Twitter consented to the adjournment, following which the Court recorded that it was reluctantly adjourning the hearing to February 7.

During the last hearing on January 9, the Centre had sought adjournment and the Court had expressed its displeasure at the frequent instances of the government seeking adjournments.

Justice Krishna S Dixit is hearing the petition.

The petition filed by Twitter is against take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY).

Twitter approached the High Court with its petition filed in June, 2022. It has claimed that the government was required to issue notice to the owners of the twitter handles against whom blocking orders are issued. It claimed it was even barred from informing the account holders about the takedown.

Senior advocates Arvind Datar and Ashok Haranahalli have argued on behalf of Twitter. The arguments for the central government are yet to be advanced before the HC.