Jammu and Kashmir, UT on Friday agreed before the Supreme Court to publish the orders passed by the review committees regarding internet shutdown in the region, except for the internal deliberations.
The bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing an application lodged by the Foundation for Media professionals.
Advocate Mr Shadan Farasat appearing on behalf of the petitioner expressed that Jammu and Kashmir is the only region where the review orders of the committee have not been published, while all other states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Punjab have published the same. The advocate expressed that he is surprised that only Jammu and Kashmir is resisting.
To this, the Solicitor General said that he is surprised that the petitioner needs only Jammu and Kashmir’s order. He further pressed that the present master involved political tangents and that the decision not to publish the review order of the committee was part of the internal mechanism, considering the law and order situation there. The Solicitor General further stated that the original internet shutdown orders are published, which any aggrieved party can challenge, and it was not necessary to publish the review orders.
Nonetheless, Advocate Mr Shadan Farasat submitted that as per the direction in the Anuradha Bhasin judgment, even the review committee orders have to be published as the direction was to publish all orders in force and any future orders.
Subsequently, the bench recalled that in the earlier hearing Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the UT, submitted that the objection of the government was only with regards to the publishing of the deliberations of the Committee and not the final decision.
The bench noted that the SG seemed to have no objections to the same and was agreeable to having the final orders published. Following, the court asked if the UT had raised any grievance on the review orders not being passed, the SG replied in negative.
Taking note of the submissions, the bench while dictating its order observed that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir would not have objection to publishing the review order.
The court remarked that they find the stand taken by Jammu and Kashmir is just unfair, particularly when other states are publishing the review order. The top court noted that there should be no impediment for the Union Territory.
Pronouncing the order, the bench, on the suggestion of the SG, also added that reasons of the order also need not be published. However, the petitioner’s counsel raised an objection, stating that non-publication of reasons would render the publication meaningless.
Consecutively, the bench clarified that the final order passed by the Review Committee must be published and that the internal deliberations need not be.