Sahyog Portal doesn’t need a law to exist, SG Mehta tells Karnataka High Court

The next hearing is scheduled for July 25.

The government does not need a specific law to create or operate the Sahyog Portal, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Karnataka High Court on July 18, defending the Union’s administrative authority to set up the central content takedown system now at the heart of X Corp’s (formerly Twitter) legal challenge.

Appearing for the Centre in the ongoing proceedings, Mehta pushed back against arguments that the portal, through which government departments and state police can send takedown orders to digital platforms, lacked statutory sanction.

“There need not be statutory backing. We have a website for litigation tracking, etc. There is no law for that,” Mehta said. “It is an administrative decision. Anybody can go onto the site and see what the status is.”

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He added that the Sahyog Portal was introduced to streamline enforcement, replacing the earlier model where local police across states would independently issue takedown notices to platforms.

“Earlier just cops were given authority. They used to give letters to platforms. Platforms did not know if they were authorised or not,” he said. “Instead of getting notices from all over the country, you will have one (portal).”

'No separation of powers in this context'

Mehta also addressed concerns raised by X Corp and others about the alleged breakdown of separation of powers, where government can issue takedown orders without judicial oversight.

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“There is nothing like separation of powers when you are dealing with intermediaries,” Mehta told the bench. “In the context of the medium where virality is the key, you have to act swiftly as the government. You cannot say that you have to wait till some court does.”

He argued that the nature of the internet requires the government to intervene in real time.

Justifying the wide scope of agencies that can issue takedown requests via the portal, Mehta said the responsibility is not confined to the police alone.

“It is not necessary that only police has to be the one,” he said. “It can be Consumer Affairs Department, Finance Department… someone has to be assigned in each ministry and each level.”

On X Corp’s locus standi

Mehta also questioned X Corp’s legal standing to bring the constitutional challenge in the first place, arguing that as a foreign corporation, it cannot invoke rights under Article 14 or 19 of the Constitution.

“X has no locus standi to file the present (petition) under Article 226, Article 19 or Article 14 rights,” he said. “It is neither a citizen of India nor an artificial person.”

The bench comprising of Justice M Nagaprasanna is hearing X Corp’s challenge to the government's use of Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, which the company alleges have created an opaque and extra-legal censorship mechanism through the Sahyog Portal.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 25.