Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Affidavit On Steps Being Taken For OTT Regulation

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central Government to inform what it proposes to do to regulate Over the Top(OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar etc.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India asked the Union Ministry to file reply to the PIL filed by Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha seeking the establishment of an autonomous body to regulate online streaming apps.

When the matter was taken on Tuesday, the bench was initially inclined to ask the petitioner to withdraw the petition and approach the Ministry with a representation. The bench proposed to do this under the impression that the Centre has finalized its steps to regulate OTT platforms.

When the bench asked the Centre about the steps taken by it, the Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain replied that the measures are under "contemplation" and were "yet to be finalized".

"We cannot accept mere contemplation. Everybody contemplates", the CJI replied in a lighter vein.

The bench posted the petition after two weeks, instead of disposing it, and asked the Centre to file a reply affidavit on the steps being taken for OTT regulation.

Last week, another bench of the Supreme Court had issued notice on a petition filed by the Centre seeking transfer of cases relating to OTT regulation pending in various High Courts to the SC.

Recently, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, told the Rajya Sabha that OTT guidelines are almost ready and will be notified soon.