INTRODUCTION
Prior to the birth of the internet and the development of the World Wide Web, access to digital legal information was possible only through tools such as CD-ROMs designed by commercial vendors and a few governmental bodies. In electronic format, legal information was available on payment basis only and the term free access to legal information was not in use. Even the important book, Handbook to Legal Information Retrieval by Jon Bing, which was published in 1984Footnote 1, did not contain a discussion of the free access of information pertaining to the law. According to Greenleaf, Mowbray and Lewis the situation between 1980 and 1992 was adverse to open access. Most of the Governments around the world tried to commercialise their government information servicesFootnote 2. The New Zealand government privatised its government printing services, however the rights to such information were later re-purchased by the government for public access. Greenleaf and others found that the Australian government gave the rights of its case laws, legislation and other governmental information to CLIRS (the Computerised Legal Information Retrieval System) which was a sister concern of the Murdoch-owned Company. CLIRS was a failed experiment due to the heavy charges for accessing legal information. The development of free access to legal information moved at a slow pace during 1980s and 1990sFootnote 3.
RISE OF THE ERA OF ‘FREE ACCESS TO LAW MOVEMENT’ (FALM)
In 1992 two academics, Peter Martin and Tom Bruce from Cornell University, started a public service providing access to US public legal information under the title ‘Legal Information Institute’ (LII)Footnote 4. It was the first effort to provide free access to legal information with the help of the internet.Footnote 5 In 1995 the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and the University of New South Wales, Australia established a service borrowing the name, Legal Information Institute (LII) from Cornell University. The Australian Legal Information Institute or AusLIIFootnote 6 was developed to provide open access to case laws, legislations, treaties, law reform reports and other legal information from all nine provinces of Australia. The same model was adopted and designed by LexUM at Montreal University to support the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). During the period 1994 to 2002, AusLII supported the development of the British and Irish Legal Information (BAILII)Footnote 7 for the UK, the Pacific Islands (PacLII)Footnote 8, the South African Legal Information Institute (SAFLI)Footnote 9 and the Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII). In 2002, the representatives of the existing and the under-developed LIIs met during the Law via Internet Conference at Montreal and adopted the ‘Declaration on Free Access to Law Movement’ which was a key turning pointFootnote 10.
Today, 34 LIIs have been developed on the basis of various geographical divisions. The World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)Footnote 11 indicates that the ‘LII’ currently contains 1743 databases from 123 jurisdictions which provide free access to legal information.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)Footnote 12 introduced a document entitled, ‘Policy guidelines for development and promotion of governmental public domain information’Footnote 13. The guidelines say that a government has to act as a lead player in the development and dissemination of government public domain information where it has direct control in publishing the output of its own activities. A government should design a policy about its public domain information, detailing the scope of the information, the access to it and the use of public information as a legal principle. The guidelines enumerate both public domain information which is free under copyright law obligations and the information generated out of government activities which involves public funds. There are several benefits to society of making government public domain information available to the general public – it bridges the gap between the digital divide, and it promotes the production, preservation and dissemination of public domain informationFootnote 14.
INDIA AND THE FREE ACCESS TO LAW MOVEMENT
India is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of its area; however, it is counted second largest on the basis of population just behind China. India is also known as having the world's biggest democratic system having a dual governmental system with a union government at national level and a federal government at state level. In addition, India is a very big hub where the information technology industry is concerned, especially in software development and support services. As a member of the international community and its organisations, India adopts almost all resolutions and guidelines ratified by UNESCO.
India is an ancient culture-based country with a sound historical background. Indian legal history is counted in four stages: the Vedic Period, Islamic Period, British Period and the Post-Independence Period. Ancient India had evidence of a number of legal sources like Vedas, Upnishads, Manusmriti and Dharamshashtra which is also known as the Vedic Period. The Islamic period is marked by Islamic laws framed by the Mughal Rulers who ruled India from 1526 A.D. to 1707 A.D. The arrival of East India Company from the United Kingdom in 1608 at Surat Port, (now in Gujarat) was the first step in the rise of British Rule in India. The Company governed large parts of India till 1857 and then the British Government took direct charge of Indian administration in 1858Footnote 15. The British Government ruled India until 1947. During the period British Parliament drafted a number of laws for India. However, few of them are still in force. After independence, the Constitution of India was drafted with a wide range of rules and regulations called Articles for the functioning of government.
The Indian Government functions at three levels: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. Legislative functions include drafting new laws, the review of existing laws and the passing of new or reviewed laws by legislators at both Union and state level. This is achieved according to the powers given under the three lists of the Constitution of India: Union Subject Lists are those which only central government can make laws, the State List for which only state governments can make laws and the Concurrent List whereby both central government and state government can make laws. The laws made by central government are considered superior where this is any conflict. The Executive includes law and order machineries responsible for monitoring proper enforcement of laws as drafted by the legislative bodies. The police force, the paramilitary forces and the special task forces are some examples of executive bodies. The third level functionary body is the Judiciary which consists of a hierarchical structure that deals with the violation of laws (Criminal and Civil) as passed by the legislative bodies. The Supreme Court of India, which is also known as the guardian of the Constitution of India and of the fundamental rights of the citizens of India, is the apex body of judicial system of India. Each Indian State has separate High Courts subordinated by district courts. Apart from the three functionaries mentioned above, India has a number of law reform commissions and governmental statutory bodies which are also responsible for framing, amending and maintaining law and order conditions in India.
The Indian Government, in compliance with UNESCO policy guidelines for providing governmental public domain informationFootnote 16, is committed to providing the output of various government bodies and departments for free use by the general public. The role of the National Information Centre for facilitating technical support is accountable in this regard. The National Information Centre, or NICFootnote 17, is a governmental body responsible for the maintenance of the database of current and archival governmental information and for providing access to the general public through web portals for the respective departments and governmental bodies. This research paper is an attempt to show how in India access to governmental public domain information is being realised through the efforts of organisations like the NIC.
INDIAN PARLIAMENTARY RESOURCES
Parliamentary resources are first and foremost primary resources which are very important and useful for legal education and research. While studying the genesis and development of a particular law or legal situation, parliamentary debates, committee reports, original submission texts or bills, and questions and replies by members, are treated as important resources. Parliamentary resources are sets of digital information resulting from the practicing legislative process for making new laws and amending existing laws. Designed and maintained by NIC, the website of the Parliament of India is divided in three parts, i.e. the President of India section (www.presidentofindia.nic.in), the Rajya Sabha (Council of State) (www.rajyasabha.nic.in) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People) (www.loksabha.nic.in).
In the first section, the President of India web portal bestows access to information relating to the President of India, speeches delivered by the President of India, a digital photo gallery, the President House library and an art and heritage section. The portal offers information on the day-to-day functions and programme schedules for the President of India. The second section, i.e. the Rajya Sabha web portal, contains rich information relating to legislative works including business, questions, debates, members, committees, procedures and secretariat information. The web portal also provides access to information like events at Rajya Sabha, a picture gallery, video footage and live webcasts of Rajya Sabha proceedings. The third section, the Lok Sabha web portal, accommodates a huge amount of legislative information. It provides access to parliamentary committee reports, legislation, members, business, question hours, papers ‘laid on table’, conferences, secretariat information and the text of parliamentary debates. The information made available is self-explanatory and supports legal education and research as a result of extending open access to its relevant resources.
INDIAN LEGISLATIVE RESOURCES
Legislative resources are the outcomes of the parliamentary process. Legislation (or Acts or Statutes) is the result of the process beginning with the submission of a draft and followed by proper debate and consideration, and finally passed by the legislative members. Laws are drafted in India at two levels. The Government of India Legislation is drafted by the Parliament of India, as per Union Subject List and Concurrent Subject List; however, the state governments frame laws as per the State Subject List.
The NIC provides access to centrally drafted legislation through its website known as INDIACODE, accessible through (www.indiacode.nic.in). This web portal encompasses the list of central legislation arranged both alphabetically and chronologically. The Constitution of India, as originally drafted, and Constitutional Amendments to date are also available to refer to through INDIACODE. The web portal provides access to central acts with a search engine so that acts can be searched by short titles, act number, the year that the act was passed, the objective of the act, a full act search and a free text search. The acts are available in text format. The NIC has also started providing true copies of all the central acts from 2012 to 2014 in pdf format. The final text of the passed legislation is published in a government publication called the Gazette of India and can be referred to through http://www.egazette.nic.in/ and is also one of the most valuable contributions of the NIC.
The NIC's efforts to maintain state local laws can also be appreciated by accessing the web-pages of the national portal of India. India.gov.in is an official website of the Government of India and contains the best known linking of all departments and ministries of the government. The NIC has created a search engine through a webpage (http://india.gov.in/my-government/actsrules) for searching local laws drafted by the Indian States governments.
Legal researchers need not subscribe to costly databases for accessing and referencing Indian legislation which are available on relevant free department and ministry web portals. Laws regarding labour can be accessed through the Ministry of Labour and Employment (http://labour.nic.in/content/). The law relating to women and children can be referred to via the website of Ministry of Women and Child Development (http://wcd.nic.in/).
Apart from the NIC, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also working at facilitating access to Indian legislation. PRS Legislative Research (www.prsindia.rog) provides access to the text of bills, bill summaries and standing committee reports pertaining to relevant legislation. It provides access for tracking bills, to articles and reviews of legislation and research summaries prepared by legal experts engaged in the subjects. ‘Laws of India’ (www.lawsofindia.org), part of PRS Legislative Research, is a very useful open access resource facilitating access of the Local Laws of Indian States.
INDIAN CASE LAW
The theory of the binding force of precedent has existed in India since the British system of justice, where a decision of court on a point of law is an authority to be followed by all inferior courts. The doctrine of precedent is firmly established in the Indian legal system. Section 212 of the Government of India Act, 1935 laid down some statutory recognition concerning the theory of precedent. Furthermore, the Constitution of India Article 141 states that judgments delivered by the Supreme Court of India shall be bound to be followed by all subordinate courts within the territorial limit of India and would be treated as Judicial Law. Thus, the judgements delivered by the superior courts are essentially the law of the land as legislative enactments.Footnote 18
The pendency of cases is one of the biggest concerns for the Indian judiciary as a slow and ineffective delivery of justice causes a high backlog and a huge number of cases waiting to be resolved. India has a federal judicial system consisting of the Supreme Court of India at New Delhi, as the apex court of the country, and twenty-one High Courts covering the states and Union Territories. As of 2014, data collected suggests that sixty thousand cases are pending in the Supreme CourtFootnote 19 and 4.4 million cases are pending in the respective Indian high courtsFootnote 20.
The National Informatics Centre has initiated a priority project for digitizing and archiving of the previous pronouncements of the Supreme Court of India and the Indian High Courts so as to provide electronic access. The official journal of the Supreme Court of India, i.e. the Supreme Court Journal, has been digitized by the NIC and can be easily accessed through a platform called the Judgement Information System (JUDIS) (at: www.judis.nic.in). JUDIS provides access to the complete case law of the Supreme Court of India since 1950. It updates the cases pronounced within three to four working hours. Judgments of 21 High Courts are also available through JUDIS. Apart from JUDIS, NIC also maintains a site called Indian Courts (www.indiancourts.nic.in) facilitating access to judgements of the Supreme Court of India, Indian State High Courts, district courts and tribunals. A litigant can also find the status of his/her case when it is pending with the courts with the help of a separate website called COURTNIC (www.courtnic.nic.in). The main reason for maintaining COUTNIC is to provide interim orders and directions, and the date of next hearing, on pending cases with the respective courts of law.
The judgements of the Indian Courts can be accessed through parental websites of the respective courts, e.g. the Supreme Court of India Judgments can be accessed through its website (www.supremeofindia.nic.in). INDIAN KANOON (www.indiankanoon.org) is another web portal for searching the cases of Indian Courts. It is well used among legal researchers due to its good search ability. The web portal is equipped with a federal search facility providing results from a number of other pieces of information on a particular subject. For researchers with limited access to commercial databases, these public domain sources offer a self-sufficient method to researching the cases of the Indian Judiciary.
INDIAN LAW REFORM REPORTS
The Constitution of India empowers the Parliament of India to establish statutory law reform bodies such as the Law Commission of India, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Backward Classes, the Competition Commission of India, the Finance Commission, Knowledge Commission, the National Commission for Women and the Scheduled Tribe /Scheduled Caste Commission.
The Law Commission of India, established in 1955, is primarily responsible for the evaluation and interpretation of law in India. It produces reports on newly introduced laws, or for the laws which required amendment. The Commission submitted its first report in 1956 on the Liability of the State in Tort. To date, the Law Commission of India has submitted 257 reports, which can be considered to be a rich source of legal information. Again, through the efforts of the NIC, all reports are accessible in their original format through the web portal of the commission, i.e. www.lawcommisisonofindia.nic.in. Like the Law Commission of India, the NIC renders its services to maintain the Reports of National Human Rights Commission. They can be downloaded through www.nhrc.nic.in. The reports of other commissions are also available on the web portals of respective commissions, ie. the Competition Commission of India (http://www.ncbc.nic.in), Finance Commission (http://fincomindia.nic.in/), Knowledge Commission (http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/), National Commission for Backward Classes at (http://www.ncbc.nic.in/), National Commission for Women (http://ncw.nic.in/) and Scheduled Tribe Commission (http://tribal.nic.in/).
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES RELATED TO INDIA
Treaties are mutual agreements between two or more countries on a number of subjects like international trade, land and marine issues, extradition of fugitives, humanitarian grounds, piracy and terrorism issues. The treaties over the obligation of the Indian government are available through the web portal of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India at http://mea.gov.in/treaty.htm. The web portal provides Indian Treaties Databases where a layman can search treaty by subject, word, country(s) or period.
LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP AND JOURNALS IN INDIA
Legal scholarship and academic journals are primary sources of information. A number of educational and research institutions, and law making bodies in India, provide their research publications and journals in the public domain. The research publications of the National Human Right Commission, India (NHRC) are available under open access for public use. The List of publications specifically on Human Rights is available at their library (http://nhrc.nic.in/). The National Crime Records Bureau, India is another web portal which offers reports based on the research achieved by that organisation. A Legal researcher or student requiring crime statistics, accident, death and suicide case data, or prison statistics, can benefit from the official records relating to the respective field as available via the portal of National Crime Record Bureau (http://ncrb.gov.in/index.htm). Many non-governmental organizations provide research discussion and expert submissions through their web portals. India Together (at: http://indiatogether.org/) is an open forum of Indian news and literature providing views, critical appraisals and debate and discussions on specific fields like agriculture, children, economy, educator, environment, government, health, human rights, law, media, peace, poverty, right to information, society and women. Mainstream Weekly (http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/) was started on 1st September 1962. The subject area of the magazine is contemporary development, polity, domestic politics, foreign relations, national economy and scientific and technology process. The magazine is available in print and online. The online version of Mainstream weekly has been available on open access since 2006. Lawyers Collective is a non-governmental organization dealing with major issues of women's rights, drug policy, law and sexuality, HIV & law and access to medicine. The web portal of Lawyers Collective (http://www.lawyerscollective.org/) provides a wide variety of open access information on the aforementioned subjects. The publications of Lawyers Collective are also available for full text download in pdf format. Indian Law Institute, which has been designated as a premier legal research institute, provides access to its publications through its web portal (at: www.iliac.in). It is possible to refer to its publications especially the Journal of Indian Law Institute and the Annual Survey of Indian Law through its Digital Library tab which is available in the Library section and which has simple steps for registration. Apart from the above resources, a number of other NGOs provide their research and analytical work through their respective web portals, such as the Indian Kanoon, Legal Services in India, Legally India, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives and Vakil No.1.
LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE OF INDIA
The Legal Information Institute of India (LII of India) at http://www.liiofindia.org/ is a part of the Legal Information Institutes initiatives supported by AUSTAD in collaboration with the National Law University, Delhi, the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the National University of Juridical Science, Kolkata, the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhi Nagar, the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai, the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala and the Australasian Legal Information Institute.
The LII of India provides access to 154 databases pertaining to Indian law through its federated interface. The resources in the LII of India have been placed into five categories: Cases, Legislation, Journals and Scholarship, Law Reform and Treaties. The web portal contains judgments delivered by the Supreme Court of India and the Indian State High Courts and some district courts and can be searched alphabetically or chronologically. One of the best features of the web portal is to provide access to a number of academic journals and research series published by law universities and research organisations pertaining to Indian law, eg. the GNLU Journal of Law, Development and Politics, Indian Journal of Constitutional Law, Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, Indian Journal of Law and Economics, Indian Journal of Law and Technology, ISIL Year Book of International Humanitarian and Refugee Law, NALSAR Environmental Law and Practice Review, NALSAR Law Research Series, NALSAR Law Review, NALSAR Media Law Review, NALSAR Student Law Review, NLUD Law Research Series, NLUD Student Law Journal and NUJS Law Review. Treaties pertaining to India can also be referred through the web portal of the LII of India.
CONCLUSION
Law is meant for the people and it should be accessible for the citizens who are bound by it. Information and communication technologies make it more possible for laymen and researchers alike to access the law. The pioneering efforts of Peter Martin and Tom Bruce resulted in the establishment of legal information institutes connecting government public legal information geographically. The UNESCO policy guidelines for development and promotion of governmental public domain information have motivated the governments of most of the countries worldwide to work towards achieving this. Government public legal information – like parliamentary resources, legislative resources, case law, law reform reports, treaties and scholarship and journals – can be accessible without having to resort to extortionately priced commercial databases. India is well known for its IT technology. The efforts and achievements of the National Informatics Centre are extensive in establishing a web portal to assist the dissemination of government public domain information that is useful for legal education, research and the practising of law. This paper has referred to a number of government maintained web portals like JUDIS, COURTNIC, INDIACODE as well as web portals of various reform commissions. The paper has also identified a number of non-governmental initiatives that support legal education and research activities such as Indian together, Lawyers Collective, Mainstream Weekly and Legally India. In an era where there are vast amounts of information available through the internet, there is a major roll for law librarians. The paper identifies two future research areas which must be developed to underpin the best information management services. Law librarians have a duty to further facilitate access to government public domain legal information for their clientele such as law students, teaching faculty, lawyers and law-making players by producing web research guides and metadata subject indexing of resources. Another challenge for future research is to formulate guidelines to ascertain authentic information within the bigger quantum of information under public domain resources.
