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The Supreme Court on Friday, 13 September, asked the Centre if it intends to bring in regulatory guidelines to address the issue of linking social media accounts with Aadhaar.
A bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose adjourned till 24 September a transfer plea by Facebook on moving four cases related to Aadhaar-social media linkage pending before the high courts of Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Madras.
The bench said it will not go into the merits of the case and would simply decide on the transfer petition. It noted that the transfer plea must be decided soon and without delay.
"At this stage we do not know whether we could decide this issue or the high court will decide,” the bench said on Friday
The Tamil Nadu government, however, on Thursday claimed in the apex court that Facebook Inc and other social media companies were not complying with Indian laws, resulting in "increased lawlessness" and difficulties in "detecting crimes".
It had sought modification of the 20 August order of the apex court directing the Madras High Court to continue hearing of pleas for linkage of social media profiles with biometric ID Aadhaar but restraining it from passing any effective orders.
A respondent in the case, on conditions on anonymity said, “By going to the Supreme Court, Facebook Inc will lose the right to file a special leave petition to challenge the high court’s decision.”
“It is unusual for a foreign company to file a transfer plea. Such a plea is usually sought in two cases – defamation cases where, say, a journalist is accused in multiple courts and second in marital disputes to make it convenient for the more vulnerable party,” he added.
Referring to different criminal cases, the state government had said local law enforcement authorities have attempted to seek information from these companies for investigation and detection of crimes on several occasions.
It had said that these companies ask authorities to send letters rogatory "despite operating on Indian soil" and have in all cases "failed to provide complete information".
The state government had also submitted that the transfer petition of Facebook Inc filed before the court seeking to transfer cases from Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh High Courts is replete with "false and misleading averments" and is a blatant attempt to misguide the Court for oblique motives.
The top court had asked social media companies including Facebook and WhatsApp to explain what would be the effect of recent amendments in Aadhaar Act by which the 12-digit unique identity number could be shared with the private party for larger public interest.
In this regard, Dr V Kamakoti, a professor of Computer Science at IIT Madras and a member of the National Security Advisory Board under the Prime Minister’s Office, submitted a formal report on traceability on 31 July.
Kamakoti, in his report to the court, provided two suggestions “detailing how originator information of a WhatsApp message could be traced”.
It had said that a IIT professor is helping the Madras High Court to identify the originator of messages on these social media platforms.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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