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Delhi High Court: Law firm are not allowed to write on their website/blog, in respect of proceedings, which are being prosecuted by such law firm.
Considering a petition filed by Society for Tax Analysis and Research at the Delhi High Court, a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court held that a law firm cannot report the details of the cases through their website/blog for the reason that any pitch in such reporting may lead to diverse problems which may affect the proceedings and the respective counsels.
There was another aspect of the matter which was been brought to the fore by the Respondents that the reports involved incorrect reporting of the proceedings of the Court, held on 25.05.2021.
A petition was filed by the petitioners requesting the Court to direct the Central Government to extend various tax due dates. During this time, an article was published in a blog titled “A Summer of Relief for Taxpayers”, published on a website https://gstlawindia.in, administered by ALA Legal Advocates & Solicitors regarding the proceedings.
Mr. Puneet Aggarwal, the Advocate appeared who on behalf of the petitioners requested to remove the blog and to make an apology to the Court as also to Mr. Venkatraman the learned Additional Solicitor General.
The petitioners also contended that the Court order dated 25.05.2021 will be uploaded on the aforesaid website/blog wherein the Court directed to submit the suggestions of the parties before the GST Council and the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes).
Justice Talwant Singh and Justice Rajiv Shakhder observed that they have also indicated to Mr. Aggarwal that ALA Legal cannot, and must not, run the website/blog, in respect of the proceedings, which are being prosecuted by it, as there is every likelihood of losing detachment in the reportage of proceedings; as in the instant matter.
The matter was postponed to 22nd July 2021, the Court observed that any slant in the reporting, which is not in line with the orders of the Court, leads to multifarious problems including the humiliation that counsels appearing in the matter may come across vis-a-vis their respective principals.
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