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Allahabad High Court recently expressed strong dissatisfaction over the efforts made by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh in uploading all the State Acts on official websites. Court said that the steps taken by the government are not enough.

The bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Piyush Agrawal stated that the information about the old law with new amendments is not given on the website which makes it difficult to know whether any amendment has been done or not.

In the suo moto case of 2020 pertaining to regular publication of all the enactments of the State Legislature as well as Rules framed, the Additional Advocate General appearing on behalf of the State Government had submitted before the bench that all the State Acts had been uploaded on two different websites, i.e., "Indiacode.nic.in" and "upvidhai.gov.in".

Upon this, the court had asked its staff to check the website. On checking the website, it was found that the government had uploaded many laws and amendments, but complete information relating to the uploaded enactment and Rules was missing.

Court said, "We have visited both the aforesaid websites, however, we find that the Acts, which are applicable on a particular date, showing as to the dates on which various amendments were carried out in that Act are not available."

Pointing out the irregular updation, the court stated, 

"It is only that the Acts, which were enacted initially and various amended Act with reference to that have been uploaded on the website. With this, it may be difficult for anyone to find out as to which of the Act is in force as on date."

Further hinting towards the wrong publication of laws by private publishers, the court observed that due to the lack of proper publication by private publishers of the laws made by the government and amendments in those laws, people associated with the judicial system suffer. Court added that due to wrongly published laws, even the courts are not able to get information about the correct law during the hearing of cases. 

Court stressed that such a system should be made so that all the information can be got in a single click. The bench added that it is the duty of the government to upload any law made by it on the government website so that the general public and people associated with the field of law can get the correct information about the law.

Court highlighted that many times, the amendment is made in the Act, but the provisions for enforcement are not notified. Accordingly stating that the same also has to be specifically taken care of, court adjourned the case till the next date. The next hearing of the petition will take place after four weeks.

Case Title: In Re - Regular Publication of All The Enactments of The State Legislature as well as Rules framed v. State of U.P. and others