Following the baby steps taken by the High Court of Gujarat a week ago to live stream its proceedings, the Apex Court is preparing to take a giant technological leap by undertaking a comprehensive exercise for live streaming of court proceedings of all Courts in the three-tier justice delivery system.
Two years & two months after a 3-Judge Supreme Court bench, through a judgment, agreed in principle for early start of live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings, the E-Committee headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud has set up a sub-committee to frame rules for video-conferencing proceedings for all High Court's & Subordinate Courts as well as to evolve a mechanism for possible live streaming of proceedings with safeguards.
A bench headed by Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Vikram Nath on Oct 26 live-streamed its proceedings through YouTube. Though Justice Chandrachud termed it a bold step, he believed it was more of an ad hoc arrangement. "We need to evolve a permanent mechanism governed by rules & regulations for live streaming of court proceedings," he told the news agency.
The panel set up by the E-Committee will give its report on 4 important aspects — infrastructure required for live streaming of proceedings from all High Court's & nearly 20,000 trial courts; funds needed for this gigantic project that will have to be broken up state-wise; software suitable for this endeavour; & the central assistance required through budgetary allocations.
Justice Chandrachud said it would be ideal to have e-cloud for every state with dedicated servers that would be manned by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) or any dedicated organisation. "Finding the right kind of software is key to the success of the endeavour," he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the closure of Courts & their shifting to virtual mode saw the E-Committee frame rules for judicial proceedings through video-conferencing. "Most HCs have adopted the model rules framed by the E-Committee for virtual hearing of cases," Justice Chandrachud said.
On Sept 26, 2018, a bench of then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra & Justices A M Khanwilkar & D Y Chandrachud had allowed the plea of Public Interest Litigation petitioner Swapnil Tripathi for live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings. Justices Misra and Khanwilkar had said, "We reiterate that Supreme Court Rules, 2013, will have to be suitably amended to provide for the regulatory framework as per the contours delineated hereinabove (for live streaming). We may hasten to add that it would be open to frame such regulatory measures as may be found necessary for holistic live streaming of court proceedings, without impinging upon the cause of administration of justice in any manner."
Writing a concurring but separate judgment, Justice Chandrachud had said, "Our legal system subscribes to the principle of open justice. The prayer for live-streaming of courtroom proceedings has its genesis in this principle. Live streaming will allow real-time access to courtroom proceedings to litigants & to every member of society. Not all cases may be live streamed.
Certain sensitive cases like matrimonial or sexual assault cases should be excluded from the process of live streaming.
"The final authority to regulate suspension or prohibition of live streaming in a particular case where the administration of justice so requires, must be with the presiding judge of each court; Live streaming will be carried out only by persons or any agency authorised under the directions of the Chief Justice of India, or as contemplated in the rules. The streaming & broadcasting will be hosted by this court on its website with the assistance of the National Informatics Centre & the ministry of electronics & information technology.”
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