In a major setback for Twitter in India, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the micro-blogging site for failing to appoint a resident grievance officer, saying, "How long will your process take place?

This cannot be allowed", even as the court free passes to the central government to act against the social media firm. The high court told central government counsel: "We are not stopping you from taking action, the court has not granted any protection to Twitter.

If they are in violation, you know what to do." The Centre submitted that Twitter India is in clear violation of IT Rules,2021.

High court to issue directions to the Centre to pass necessary instructions to Twitter India and Twitter Inc to appoint a resident grievance officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 without any delay.

Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter India, submitted that an interim grievance officer was appointed, but he had withdrawn his candidature on June 21. The bench responded that after June 21, and till July 6, the least it could have done was appoint another person.

"How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," said the bench.