For national security, principles of natural justice can be given a go-by: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently upheld the Central government’s decision to block the messaging platform Briar in Jammu & Kashmir, observing that in national security matters, principles of natural justice can be given a go-by [Sublime Software Ltd v. Union of India]..Justice Subramonium Prasad said that the decision taken at the highest level of government for the benefit of the security and sovereignty of the country can be kept confidential.“At the outset it is to be stated that in matters of national security, principles of natural justice can be given a go-by. It is well settled that the right to a fair hearing may have to yield to overriding considerations of national security...This Court can take judicial notice of the fact that decisions taken at the highest level and for the benefit of the security & sovereignty of the country can be kept confidential,” the Court said..Briar had approached the High Court seeking a direction to the Central government to produce and publish the order to block the application, passed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The open-source platform also sought a stay on the order.It was stated that Briar is a Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) that is freely licensed to be used and anyone can copy, study and change the software in any way and the source code is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software.The government told the Court that the Briar software/application can work even when there is no internet connection, and is suspected to be used by terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir. The application can be misused and can be a potential threat to the national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, the Court was told..After considering the case, the Court ruled that the interim order passed by the government has been reviewed by a committee of top government officials constituted under Section 7 of the Blocking Rules.“The blocking orders have been passed for 14 applications/softwares, including the software/application of the Petitioner herein as it was being used by the Terrorists and their supporters to disturb the security and sovereignty of the country. The application of the Petitioner has been blocked only in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the same can be used in all other parts of the country,” the Court noted.It, therefore, dismissed the plea..Advocates Bhuvan Mishra, Arjun Adrian D'souza, Yash Maheshwari, Krishna Kanhaiya Kumar and Tanmay Mishra appeared for Sublime Software Limited (Briar).The Central government was represented through Advocates Vaibhav Gaggar, Utkarsh Tiwari, Shefali Munde and Vedansh Anand. .[Read Judgment]