HC issues show-cause notice to publisher

Allahabad HC has issued a show-cause notice to Universal Publisher LexisNexis for misleading the court and the bar (advocates) by not publishing “up to date bare act of a legislation

The Allahabad high court has issued a show-cause notice to Universal Publisher LexisNexis asking why appropriate action should not be taken against it for misleading the court and the bar (advocates) by not publishing “up to date bare act of a legislation.”

HC has fixed April 12 as the next date of hearing in the case.

Bare act is the exact text of a particular enactment or a statute passed by the legislature.

The court has fixed April 12 as the next date of hearing in the case.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Prakash Padia was hearing a special appeal of the managing committee of Arya Vidya Sabha Budhana Muzaffarnagar.

In 2020, the state government amended section 4-B of ‘The Societies Registration Act, 1860’. However, during the course of hearing, when the court was going through the provisions of the act in the bare act published by LexisNexis, it could not find any such amendment and had to go through various books published by other publishers to cross check about the amendment.

The court then observed, “The Universal Publisher LexisNexis in the Bare Act titled ‘The Societies Registration Act, 1860’ with the State amendment published in the year 2020, does not reflect insertion of Section 4-B in the Act by amendment carried out vide U.P. Act No. 23 of 2013 as a result of which court’s substantial time was wasted to go through different books and to find out whether amendment is there or not.”