New Delhi, Jun 19 The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the government's decision to temporarily restrict access to Telegram ahead of the crucial NEET-UG retest on June 21, saying the step was not disproportionate as the messaging app can facilitate "automated dissemination" of large content.
The high court, in its 39-page verdict, upheld the decision of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under Section 69A of the Information of Technology Act to ensure a fair re-examination of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, on June 21.
On May 12, the National Testing Agency had cancelled the NEET-UG test held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of a paper leak.
A vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia dealt with two questions whether the impugned order was vitiated by non-application of mind and if temporarily blocking the Telegram platform satisfied the requirement of proportionality.
Answering the questions, the bench held, "The measures adopted by Respondent No. 1 (the Centre) under the orders constitute the least restrictive measure for achieving the stated objective”.
“Accordingly, the action of Respondent No. 1 in temporarily blocking public access to Telegram cannot be held to be disproportionate,” the verdict said while dismissing the plea of the UAE-based messaging app.
The bench referred to Section 69A of the IT Act and said that the government was empowered to block public access to any online information.
“Section 69A of the IT Act empowers the Central Government, or any officer specially authorised by it in this behalf, to issue directions for blocking public access to any information generated, transmitted, received, stored, or hosted in any computer resource, where it is satisfied that such action is necessary or expedient in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating thereto,” it said.
Taking note of emergency nature and the reasons accorded by the Centre for its action, the verdict said that they were “sufficient” and the procedure as provided under the law had been duly followed.
Taking note of submissions by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the verdict said the temporary blocking was directed to deal with the potentially grave implications for public order and for preventing the commission of cognizable offences arising from the circulation of examination-related misinformation and purported test papers on Telegram.
“This Court is of the view that given the emergency nature of the impugned order, the reasons supplied in arriving at the decision were sufficient,” it held.
It said, “A perusal of the impugned order indicates that the Centre, upon consideration of the material placed before it, was satisfied that Telegram was being misused for the dissemination of examination-related misinformation, the circulation of purported examination papers, and other fraudulent and unlawful activities, which were likely to have serious implications for public order in the country”.
The Centre directed that public access to Telegram be blocked until June 22 and that the message-editing feature be disabled until June 30, it said.
“There is no cavil that every decision of a statutory or administrative authority must be supported by reasons, which constitute an essential facet of the principles of natural justice. Reasons serve to establish the nexus between the material placed before the authority and the conclusion arrived at by it, and further demonstrate that the authority has applied its mind to the relevant facts and circumstances,” it said.
It noted that Telegram permits the large-scale addition of users to channels and groups.
“The platform architecture of Telegram is conducive to amplification and mass dissemination of content, enabling information to reach a substantial number of users within a short span of time. Consequently, any unlawful content, if circulated on Telegram, is capable of being amplified rapidly and likely to give rise to a public order situation,” the verdict said.
It said that unlike other conventional platforms, Telegram is entirely cloud-based, thereby enabling the storage and retrieval of large volumes of content.
“Telegram also hosts an extensive bot ecosystem, which facilitates automated dissemination of content and other activities without human intervention. Further, the use of usernames in lieu of phone numbers enables concealment of user identifiers and facilitates the rapid dissemination of content, including content that may be illicit in nature,” it said.
