The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that live-streaming of court proceedings should start with the Chief Justice of India’s courtroom.
It said live-streaming should be initially restricted to constitutional issues decided by the top judge.
Appearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal assured the court that the government was treating the proposal as a very serious and significant step to reach out to the ordinary litigant.
Mr. Venugopal said restricting live-streaming to the CJI’s court would given an opportunity to gauge public response, especially when issues of constitutional significance were heard.
In an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had said it was ready to go live on camera, while the government had mooted a separate TV channel for live-streaming court proceedings.
The court had referred to live-streaming as an extension of the “open court” system allowing the public to walk in and watch the court proceedings.
Chief Justice Misra had said live-streaming would help litigants conveniently follow the court proceedings and assess their lawyers’ performance. People from far-flung States did not have to travel all the way to the national capital for a day’s hearing.
Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal had proposed a dedicated channel in the likes of the Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV for the Supreme Court. He agreed that live-streaming would keep a check on lawyers' conduct inside the courtrooms.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who filed the petition in the Supreme Court in person, cautioned that agreements with broadcasters should be on a non-commercial basis. No one should profit from the arrangement. She submitted that there should be no unauthorised reproduction of the content of the court proceedings.
