The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the proceedings in pleas connected with the regulation of content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms in various High Courts, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The order came on a transfer plea moved by the Centre to club all these petitions filed in various high courts. The court was hearing a series of pleas filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha and NGO Justice for Rights Foundation, seeking regulation of content on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar etc. The petitioners in their plea demanded a formation of a pre-screening committee be set up before the content on OTT platforms is streamed online.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud though the top court had issued a notice on the Centre's transfer plea to club all such petitions, yet the Punjab and High Court is proceeding in a pending matter. Further proceedings will be heard in the second week after Holi.
The top court issued notices to all petitioners, who have filed pleas in Punjab and Haryana High Court, Madhya Pradesh High Court and Allahabad High Court, in February on the plea jointly filed by the ministry of information and broadcasting, electronics and technology and the ministry of law and justice.
During the hearing, Mehta submitted that the transfer petition was filed by the government as more than one High Court was dealing with the matter. He added that it was learnt that High Courts had said they will proceed with the matter till it is stayed by the top court. The bench said when a notice is issued by the top court in a transfer, the judges often say the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
The NGO, represented through advocate Satyam Singh, said: "The Rules framed by the Union Government are more like guidelines without any effective mechanism for its proper implementation. It does not provide for any penalty or punishment for violation of the Rules. Without legislation, there cannot be effective control of content on OTT platforms."
The government’s proposal of bringing guidelines for OTT platforms is commendable, added the NGO, but notes that it suffers from flaws, defects and loopholes. "The Government of India has palpably failed to take into consideration the screening of content telecasts on OTT platforms. Given the lack of a proper screening mechanism, the OTT platforms show content that is vulgar, pornographic and profane. The screening of content telecasts on OTT platforms are indispensable and need of the hour," added the NGO's rejoinder.
Currently, the Centre has identified 40 OTT platforms that live stream content.
The ruling comes days after the government notified a set of regulations for OTT platforms, which according to the Supreme Court lacked teeth. In a separate proceeding, the court had said that the regulations lack provisions for enforcement following which the Centre agreed to revise the rules.