Delhi HC to hear on Sep 2 India Kanoon's pleas against single judge's 'right to be forgotten' order

The Delhi High Court has scheduled a hearing on September 2 to address appeals from India Kanoon, a legal database platform, against a ruling by a single judge. The judge ordered India Kanoon and Google to remove name-based search functionality for certain judicial orders, citing the right to be forgotten. During the oral proceedings, the bench expressed concerns about public interest and questioned why access to judicial records should be denied based on a party's name.

The bench emphasized that a judgement exists and should be accessible through other means, such as case number. India Kanoon argued that it is not a newspaper but a legal website hosting judicial records, which should not be tampered with. The platform contends that the single-judge's decision expands the scope for censorship and violates the right to freedom of trade, occupation, and profession under the Constitution.

The appeal asserts that the single judge misinterpreted the Supreme Court's K S Puttaswamy ruling on the Right to Privacy, which did not grant an absolute right to be forgotten from judicial records.