Former Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi on Saturday said there is no law to disallow recording of judicial proceedings in courts. There are no laws that prohibit audio-video recordings and said that the Parliament not only has recordings but also live coverage of what is happening.
Speaking at a symposium by The National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms titled ‘Audio Video Recording of Court Proceeding’, Mr. Gandhi said recordings of court proceedings will restore and strengthen the faith of the public. He said it will bring in transparency in the system and that there is nothing wrong is recording procedures in the court as it is an open court. He said recordings of all judicial proceedings should be made available to the public through RTI.
He also spoke about vacancies in the judiciary and higher judiciary in courts, and how they should be filled.
On June 17, a division bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and G.S. Patel of the HC had dismissed two petitions seeking audio-video recordings of court proceedings, and their telecast. The bench said that while court proceedings were open to all except in camera cases, it could not be made into a ‘spectacle’ or a ‘circus’ for public consumption. The court had also noted, “the talk of ‘greater transparency” is meaningless. “Courts do not operate as star chambers, functioning in secret and behind closed doors, except in those exceptional circumstances where the law specifically allows as in camera proceedings.” The bench observed, “It is one thing to afford everyone a right to come to court and it is quite another to take the court into everyone’s living room.”
