The Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed Lok Sabha that High Courts of Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna and Madhya Pradesh have been started live streaming of video conferencing of proceedings thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.

He replied to an Unstarred Question that whether the Government agrees with the view that judicial proceedings must be opened for public viewership or not.

He stated that the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its Judgment dated 26th September, 2018 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 66 of 2018 – Indira Jai Singh versus Secretary General of Supreme Court & Others has, interalia, observed that :

  1. it is important to re-emphasise the significance of live-streaming as an extension of the principle of open justice and open courts;
  2. The process of live streaming should be subjected to carefully structured guidelines,
  3. Initially, a pilot project may be conducted for about three months by live-streaming only cases of national and constitutional importance which can be expanded in due course with availability of infrastructure.

He further stated that the eCommittee of the Supreme Court has set up a Committee to draw up Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Live Streaming. Additionally, under the guidance of eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, a sub-committee was constituted for framing Model Rules for Live Streaming. The said rules have been forwarded to Computer Committee of High Courts for the feedback and suggestions.

Picture Source :

 
Vishal Gupta