SHARMA, J. - (1.) FOR the purpose of laying down a uniform policy for publishing the judgments, notices were issued to the State of Rajasthan and various Law Journals.
(2.) RULE 119 of the Rajasthan High Court RULEs 1952 (for short `1952 RULEs') which prescribes the procedure for publication of the judgments in law journals, reads as under:- i) an approved list of journals has to be maintained under the orders of Chief Justice; ii) Only such approved law journals are entitled to receive the copies of the judgment approved for reporting; iii) No law journal shall be entered in the list unless it has given an undertaking that it will apply for a copy of every judgment delivered by the Court which is marked "approved for reporting'; iv) As soon as a judgment is approved for reporting by the Court a Bench Reader has to enter in a separate register and the Bench Reader is required to send such judgment immediately to the Superintendent of the Judicial Department; v) An approved judgment is sent by the Superintendent of the Judicial Department to the Superintendent of the Coping Department for preparation of as many copies as per the list of journals. vi) Two registers are to be maintained by the Superintendent of the Copying department called as `register of the Copies of the Judgments marked AFR' and `register of applications of copies of judgments marked AFR'; vii) Additional information such as names of advocates and the Judge relating to the said order be sent to the Superintendent of the Copying department by the Superintendent of the Judicial department along with judgments; viii) If the representative of any law journal on the approved list does not apply for any copy of any judgment marked AFR within four weeks from the date of delivery of the said judgment, the name of such journal has to be removed from the approved list. Having considered the oral and written submissions we deem it appropriate to request Hon'ble the Chief Justice to appoint a Committee for proper and effective mechanism for checking lacunae in publication of the judgments. The Committee shall undertake the following activities:- i) Prior to approval of publishers, an analysis should be made by the Committee of Publisher of the law journals for publication; ii) Analysis of publishers should consist of consideration of nature of the journal, status of the publishers, accountability of publisher and the editorial Board. iii) Only prestigious law journals shall be approved so that journals are published in those journals which are evenly read by all the lawyers in Rajasthan or outside the State of Rajasthan. iv) Editors shall be appointed by the publishers after the consultation with the Committee so that the reader of the judgments may get best of the head notes and precise of the judgment. v) The law journals should be made accountable and answerable for not reporting the judgments even after obtaining the copy of the judgments. vi) The Committee shall ask regularly from the journals about the orders which have not been published. vii) The journals who have committed regular defaults shall be delisted from the approved list of journal and they shall be debarred from applying again for approval for the next five years. viii) Multiplicity of journals in a particular subject has to be avoided so that judgments may be published in only some of the specific law journals and reader may not get confused. ix) Identification and approval of one or two law journals with regard to one specific subject would be simplify the distribution of judgments in accordance with the subject. x) The Committee shall ask the publisher to send a draft of their forthcoming edition/part consisting of judgment to the Committee for its approval. No publisher shall be allowed to publish and circulate their editions without the prior approval of the Committee. xi) The Committee will be able to assess as to whether the judgments has been stayed,over ruled of affirmed by the division Bench so that an appropriate note or addendum may be added in the same edition or in the next edition or the part of that edition to be published and circulated. xii) The exercise of can be undertaken by the Committee by way of collecting information through the Computer, Court Reader, Superintendent of Copying department and the Advocates who are member of the committee. xiii) The publishers will be bound to publish an addendum or note in their editions informing the reader about the fate of the judgments. In the addendum reference shall be made with regard to the judgments reported earlier of Single Bench as reported in the particular edition and the particular page number on which the judgments has been reported. xiv) Subject-wise distribution of the judgments as per the law journal is to be made by the Committee. A list of the judgments shall also be made which are worth enough to be published in the journals. Un-reported judgments shall only be provided to the journals who are exclusively dealing with unreported judgments. xv) Multiplicity of publication of judgments is reported to be avoided. xvi) The Committee shall ask the journals to provide a separate pare, as being provided under the Supreme Court cases, showing the list of judgments which have been over ruled, followed and distinguished in past. All the Rajasthan journals should be asked to prepare such a list to publish it permanently in the edition/part. xvii) The High Court shall also undertake an exercise to explore the avenues of printing and publishing its own daily journals reporting the judgments as passed by Hon'ble Judges time to time. The report of the judgments can be tagged with the daily cause lists and be provided to the lawyers who are making payments for the said journals. Such publication would generate revenue for the High Court. xviii) The Committee may appoint some of the persons for the preparation of head-note etc. , as editorial Board. With these observations the writ petition stands disposed of Let this order be placed before Hon'ble the Chief Justice for passing appropriate orders in regard to appointment of Committee. .;