Parliamentary Panel Questions Legality Of New Digital Media Rules

Headed by Congress leader and Loksabha MP Shashi Tharoor, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology (IT) on Monday questioned the legality of the new digital media rules framed by the government.

During the meeting, certain members of the committee questioned the officials whether these are in conformity with the legal framework of the country.

The meeting, which is held under the chairmanship of Tharoor, saw committee members grilling officials of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

"Who were consulted before making guidelines for OTT, from where the opinions were taken, whether the judiciary, intellectual people, civic society and the professionals were contacted, or are these rules made by bureaucrats only," the committee members asked the officials.

In response, the government officials justified the need for such rules due to "changing times" and also explained the rationale behind them.

On February 25, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad announced the new policies for the OTT platform and digital media.

This comes as the content on OTT platforms had recently fuelled controversy, leading to public outcry and the booking of makers of some programs.