New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) Role of the judiciary is only to test the legality of a statute and not to amend or modify it, the Delhi High Court has said while dismissing a plea seeking the constitution of a censor board to review non-film songs before their public release on television or social media platforms.
The high court said there is a clear regulation or regime which has been laid down by the central government to regulate the information or content that is available to the general public through various media platforms.
“The contention of the petitioner that there is no regulatory authority is incorrect. Directing for the appointment of a regulatory authority would result in legislation by this court which is not permissible.
"The concept of separation of powers between the legislature, the judiciary and the executive has been laid down in various judgments by the apex court. Courts cannot mandate a statute or add provisions to a statute as it would amount to legislation which is not permissible in the constitutional scheme of this country,” a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said.
Regarding television, the bench said the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, address the issues regarding the regulation of content that is being telecast on these platforms.
It relied on a judgement of the Supreme Court in which it was held that courts do not possess the power to set up an adjudicatory committee or a tribunal by way of issuing a writ of mandamus.
“The role of the judiciary is primarily only to test the legality of a statute and not to amend/ modify a statute. Setting up of tribunals, authorities, regulators comes purely within the domain of the legislature and not in the domain of courts. In view of the above, there is no merit in the instant writ petition. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed,” it said.
The court’s judgement came on a petition by Neha Kapoor seeking direction to the Centre to constitute a regulatory authority/ censor board to censor/ review the non-film songs, their lyrics and videos which are made available to the general public through various media platforms like Television, YouTube, etc.
It also sought for making it mandatory for composers of non-film songs to receive certification before such songs are made available in public domain.
The high court referred to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules (Ethics Code) and said it applies to various intermediaries like Youtube, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook and these guidelines regulate the nature of content that should not be hosted by these platforms.
“These guidelines read with the Information Technology Act also provides for offences in case of violation of the Ethics Code. In addition to offences under the IT Act, the violators can also be booked under the Indian Penal Code.
"Thus, the grievance of the petitioner that there is no Regulatory Authority/ censor board to censor/ review the non-film songs, their lyrics and videos which are made available to the general public through various media platforms like Television, YouTube, etc. has been taken care of by the Ethics Code and the regime framed thereunder,” it said. PTI SKV SKV RT RT