Munmun Kaur
Published On: January 25, 2022 at 15:45 IST
The Bombay High Court on January 25, directed the State Government to submit a status report on whether the State websites have been updated with the latest versions of all State Laws and Rules and are they being updated on a real-time basis.
The direction was given to ascertain whether an Order from 2017, which was given by the co-ordinate Bench of the High Court was being complied with. In 2017, the co-ordinate Bench of the Bombay High Court had directed that within a period of 6 months, updated versions of all the State Enactments and Rules should be uploaded on the State Government website and the same should be updated on real time basis.
That Order was passed due to the Plea filed by Mumbai Grahak Panchayat and Bar Associations of Consumer Tribunals in 2011, which also included a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation in the High Court.
The co-ordinate Bench had then commented that the Orders passed by Courts from time to time will show that there is a complete failure in uploading the updated versions of the Bare Acts and the Statutory Rules and Regulations on the website of the State Government.
In the present hearing, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik pointed out that despite the 2017 Order, Judges and stenographers of Courts were still not getting updated Government documents. Therefore, the Bench called upon the Government to explain the extent to which the State has complied with the 2017 Order.
Also read: Analysis of The Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2020