Significance and Contents of Gazette of India, including its history, purpose and legal basis for publication of laws through eGazette.
1. Introduction
As per Section 3 of General Clauses Act, 1897 the “official Gazette” or “Gazette” shall mean the Gazette of India or the official Gazette of a State.
2. History
Gazette as a terminology has interesting history :
The word gazette comes from gazzetta, a Venetian coin used to buy early Italian newspapers; the coin became a name for the papers themselves. The word was loaned into English to describe a newspaper.
“Gazette” came to be used for an official government paper with the creation of the London Gazette, first published in 1665 under the title of The Oxford Gazette. This was one of the first publications in the world that could be termed a “newspaper”. The Edinburgh Gazette came into existence in 1699, the Dublin Gazette in 1705, and the Belfast Gazette first appeared in 1921, the Iris Oifigiúil of the Irish Free State in 1922.
In some countries, publication in the official gazette (also called public journal) is a condition for official documentation to come into force.
3. Purpose of Gazette of India
All Bills, Acts, Rules, Notifications, Orders, etc. of the Government are officially made public through publication in the Gazette of India.
4. Contents of Gazette of India
It has 4 Parts which are further subdivided into Sections, with each Part and Section specifically allocated for a particular kind of notification.
Part I – Section 1
Notification relating to Non-Statutory Rules, Regulations, Orders and Resolutions issued by the Ministries of Government of India (other than the Ministry of Defence) and by the Supreme Court.
Part I – Section 2
Notification relating to Appointments, Promotions, Leave etc. of Government Officers issued by the Ministries of the Government of India (other than the Ministry of Defence) and by the Supreme Court of India.
Part I – Section 3
Notifications relating to Resolutions and Non-Statutory Orders, Rules, Regulations issued by the Ministry of Defence.
Part I – Section 4
Notifications relating to Appointments, Promotions, Leave etc. of Government Officers issued by the Ministry of Defence.
Part II – Section 1
Acts, Ordinances and Regulations.
Part II – Section 1-A
Authoritative texts in Hindi language of Acts, Ordinances and Regulations.
Part II – Section 2
Bills and Reports of the Select Committee on Bills.
Part II – Section 3 – Sub Section (i)
General Statutory Rules (including Orders, Bye-laws etc. of general character) issued by the Ministries of the Government of India (other than the Ministry of Defence) and by Central Authorities (other than the Administration of Union Territories).
Part II – Section 3 – Sub Section (ii)
Statutory Orders and Notifications issued by the Ministries of the Government of India (other than the Ministry of Defence) and by Central Authorities (other than the Administration of Union Territories).
Part II – Section 3 – Sub Section (iii)
Authoritative texts in Hindi (other than such texts, published in Section 3 or Section 4 of the Gazette of India) of General Statutory Rules and Statutory Orders (including Bye-laws of a general character) issued by the Ministries of the Government of India (including the Ministry of Defence and by Central Authorities (other than Administration of Union Territories).
Part II – Section 4
Statutory Rules & Orders issued by the Ministry of Defence.
Part III – Section 1
Notifications issued by the High Courts, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Union Public Service Commission, the Indian Railways and by Attached and Subordinate Offices of the Government of India.
Part III – Section 2
Notices & Notifications issued by the Patent Office.
Part III – Section 3
Notifications issued by or under the authority of Chief Commissioners.
Part III – Section 4
Miscellaneous Notifications including Notifications, Orders, Advertisements and Notices issued by Statutory Bodies.
Part IV
Advertisement and Notices issued by the private individuals and private bodies.
5. Legal basis for publication of laws through eGazette
All government notifications are notified through publication in official Gazette. The Information Technology Act 2000 says that any requirement of a publication in the official Gazette shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such a matter is published in the official Gazette or electronic Gazette.
5.1 Section 8 of the Information Technology Act 2000
Section 8 – Publication of rule, regulation, etc., in Electronic Gazette – Where any law provides that any rule, regulation, order, bye-law, notification or any other matter shall be published in the Official Gazette, then, such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such rule, regulation, order, bye-law, notification or any other matter is published in the Official Gazette or Electronic Gazette: Provided that where any rule, regulation, order, by-law, notification or any other matter is published in the Official Gazette or Electronic Gazette, the date of publication shall be deemed to be the date of the Gazette which was first published in any form.
6. Contents of Gazette presumed to be genuine: Indian Evidence Act
Based on Sections 35, 38 and 81 of the Indian Evidence Act, the contents of the Official Gazette are presumed to be genuine, unless contrary is proved. The contents are accordingly admissible as evidence in a Court of Law.
6.1 Section 35 of Indian Evidence Act
Section 35 of the Indian Evidence Act relates to the relevancy of entry in public record made in performance of official duty.
35. Relevancy of entry in public 1[record or an electronic record] made in performance of duty— An entry in any public or other official book, register or 1[record or an electronic record], stating a fact in issue or relevant fact, and made by a public servant in the discharge of his official duty, or by any other person in performance of a duty specially enjoined by the law of the country in which such book, register, or 1[record or an electronic record] is kept, is itself a relevant fact.
6.2 Section 38 of Indian Evidence Act
Section 38 of the Indian Evidence Act relates to the relevancy of any law contained in law books
38. Relevancy of statements as to any law contained in law-books.—When the Court has to form an opinion as to a law of any country, any statement of such law contained in a book purporting to be printed or published under the authority of the Government of such country and to contain any such law, and any report of a ruling of the Courts of such country contained in a book purporting to be a report of such rulings, is relevant.
6.3 Section 81 of Indian Evidence Act
Section 81 of the Indian Evidence Act relates to the presumption that contents of Gazettes and other such documents are genuine.
81. Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, private Acts of Parliament and other documents.—The Court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be the London Gazette, or 1[any Official Gazette, or the Government Gazette] of any colony, dependency of possession of the British Crown, or to be a newspaper or journal, or to be a copy of a private Act of Parliament 2[of the United Kingdom] printed by the Queen’s Printer, and of every document purporting to be a document directed by any law to be kept by any person, if such document is kept substantially in the form required by law and is produced from proper custody.