"Inform us what steps are being taken:" Supreme Court seeks reply from Central government in plea seeking regulation of OTT platforms

In a plea seeking establishment of an autonomous body to regulate over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central government to reveal the steps taken to allay the concerns of the petitioner. .In October last year, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde had asked the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) to respond to the public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha..Jha sought a direction from the top court to the government to set up a body for monitoring content on different OTT/streaming and digital media platforms.“With cinemas unlikely to open anytime soon in the country, OTT/streaming and different digital media platforms have surely given a way out to filmmakers and artistes to release their content without getting any clearance certificate from the censor board,” Jha had submitted in his plea..Today, CJI Bobde initially asked the petitioner to withdraw the plea and make a representation before the government. However, the petitioners insisted that it be tagged with a pending plea. .The Court sought to know from Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain the steps taken by the government on the issue.Jain replied that the government was still contemplating measures..At this point, CJI Bobde said,"We cannot accept mere contemplations. Everybody contemplates. Notice issued and tagged with pending case. Submit an affidavit on steps being taken," CJI said. .None of the OTT/streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, and Hotstar, had committed to self-regulation norms, the petitioner contended. “The government is facing heat to fill this lacuna with regulations from the public and the judiciary; still the relevant government departments have not done anything significant to regularise these OTT/streaming platforms," the petition said. .Jha called for the formation of a body that may be called the Central Board for Regulation and Monitoring of Online Video Contents (CBRMOVC) "to monitor and filter the contents and regulate the videos on various platforms for viewers in India."

"Inform us what steps are being taken:" Supreme Court seeks reply from Central government in plea seeking regulation of OTT platforms

Debayan Roy

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