Delhi HC issues notice in PIL to make important Legal Publications readily available

The Delhi High Court yesterday issued notice to the Law Ministry in a plea seeking a direction to make accurate and reasonably priced legal publications readily available to the general public..The petition, filed by Advocate Arpit Bhargava, claims that the government’s unwillingness or inability to provide affordable, accurate and freely available hard bound copies of Central Enactments, Rules and Notifications is violative of the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution..It is stated that,.“There is a blatant laxity on the part of Respondents in not giving effect to the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of Constitution of India by not publishing on its own and ensuring availability of authentic, accurate and reasonably priced hard copies of central acts, rules, notifications, regulations etc…for the benefit of public at large and allowed the public to suffer at the hands of some private businessmen, who have created monopoly and are charging public at large at their whims and fancies without any regard to public interest.”.It was further argued that government cannot be allowed to infringe the citizens’ fundamental Right to Know, which obliges the government to disseminate knowledge about the prevalent law by way of publishing Acts of Parliament etc. that are not only reasonably priced, but also accurate and authentic..The petition points to a private monopoly that is being run by a few publishers, who are overpricing copies pertaining to the said material, and are also free from any liability if material inaccuracies appear in the publication. It is also alleged that the respondents are in active connivance with such businessmen/publishers..The petition also submits that the reproduction of Bare Acts, without any value addition in terms of text and commentary and without the permission of the government, is in violation of the Copyright Act..“That from Section 17(d) of the Copyright Act 1957, it is amply clear that in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, in case of Acts, Rules, Notifications, Regulations etc. the government has the first copyright ownership. Section 52(1)(a) has, by deeming fiction, barred the act of publishing and selling any government work for commercial gain.”.Further, the petition contended that in case the government is incapable of publishing its own material, then it may adopt a mechanism of open tendering. It was also prayed that the Court should,.“Frame guidelines regarding publications and dissemination of knowledge relating to acts of parliament, rules, notifications etc through a transparent, accurate and authentic mechanism.”.The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Law as well as the Department of Publications and sought their response on the petition.