The Inter-Departmental Committee or the government oversight body, envisaged in India’s digital regulations or IT Rules, implemented May 2021, has been constituted and met twice.

“The Inter-Departmental Committee, as mandated by rule 14 of the IT Rules, 2021 has been constituted and has met twice till January, 2022,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, junior Minister for Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), said in Rajya Sabha (Upper House) on Friday.

He was replying in writing to a query from a fellow parliamentarian whether the government committee had been set up and had got down to business.

When asked if there was any penal consequences for non-compliance with Code of Ethics by companies, the government listed out the directives that the government oversight body can hand out which include the following:

(a) warning, censuring, admonishing or reprimanding the publishers.

(b) requiring an apology by the publishers.

(c) requiring such publishers to include a warning card or a disclaimer.

(d) in case of online curated content, directing the publisher to (i) reclassify ratings of relevant content; or (ii) edit synopsis of relevant content; or (iii) make appropriate modification in the content descriptor, age classification and parental or access control.

Under Part-III of the IT Rule, 2021, the publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) and publishers of news and current affairs content on digital media are required to adhere to Code of Ethics prescribed under the Rules.

Any violation of the Code of Ethics by publishers will be addressed by a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. Level 1 entails having in-house grievance officers, Level-II  is the self regulatory body and Level-III is the oversight mechanism of the Central or the federal government.