New Delhi: At least 23 senior Delhi police officers have been empowered by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena to issue “takedown orders” to social media companies and other intermediaries for removing “illegal content” under the Information Technology Act.

According to a gazette notification issued on December 26, the Delhi police has been designated as the “nodal agency” of the NCT of Delhi to perform these functions, reported Hindustan Times.

The notification issued by the Delhi Home Department states that the L-G has notified the DCPs of districts, Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), Economic Offences Wing, crime, special cell, special branch, Indira Gandhi International Airport, railways and Metro to issue “take down notice pertaining to cases reported in their respective jurisdiction.”

The notification also gives them the power to notify the instances of information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource controlled by the intermediary being used to commit the unlawful act.

“Earlier, we issued notices from officers’ official email addresses under Section 79(3)(b) and social media intermediaries complied. As per the circular given by home ministry recently, nodal officers have been appointed in many states/UTs, including Delhi,” said Rajneesh Gupta, joint commissioner, IFSO.

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