AG KK Venugopal calls on the SC to emulate Gujarat HC, CJI Bobde responds that decision will be taken ‘soon’

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AG KK Venugopal calls on the SC to emulate Gujarat HC, CJI Bobde responds that decision will be taken ‘soon’
Moneylife Digital Team 27 October 2020 0

Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal has applauded yesterday’s decision of the Gujarat High Court (HC) to livestream the proceedings of the Court Room 1 and held it as an example for the Supreme Court (SC) to emulate.
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The Madras High Court also puts up video conferencing links publicly on its website and no one has been barred from watching the hearings. He reminded the apex court of its September 2018 judgment and said “Now there is a judgment requiring the Court to have live-streaming. I was satisfied watching the live streaming of proceedings in the Gujarat High Court”. Citing the success of this experimental live streaming of proceedings, the AG strongly pitched the SC to follow suit.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde replied saying “In principle, I agree with the idea. But there are practical difficulties. You must have heard of undisciplined behaviour of some lawyers during hearings through video-conferencing.” He added “There are problems which should not be discussed publicly… There are certain abuses… We will take a decision soon enough, otherwise successive Chief Justices [he turned towards Justice DY Chandrachud who is next in line to be CJI) will do.” Surprisingly, two years back in September 2018, the SC had commented “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” while paving the way for live streaming of court proceedings.

On Monday, the SC said the system of video-conferencing during the ongoing pandemic situation has been “extremely successful” and permitted the high courts to frame rules for such virtual hearings for themselves and the subordinate courts. However when the AG referred to live streaming in Gujarat HC and Madras HC and called for the apex court to emulate the same, the SC said it would think later over the issue of live-streaming of its proceedings. The apex court said there are a lot of issues that cannot be discussed publicly and it would think over the matter later.

Last week, a right to information (RTI) application filed by Saurav Das on behalf of ‘The Logical Indian’ revealed that the Supreme Court Registry has been sitting over an SC Judgement ordering live streaming of court proceedings for more than 2 years now, keeping it “under consideration”, despite having no powers to do so. In a bizarre reply to the RTI, the Supreme Court of India has said that the judgment pronouncing implementation of live streaming of court proceedings is “under consideration of the Registry”. This is unheard of since the “matter” has been well settled and a full and final verdict has been passed. In such a situation, it is unclear how the Registry can keep this matter pending due consideration at all and for such a long period of time. Two years on after the September 2018 order, the SC does not seem to be moving in that direction with the speed expected of it. The RTI had 16 pointed questions on the matter but solicited no response. The SC evaded queries seeking to know details of the exact work that has been done till date and reasons for the delay in implementing this order.

In April this year, the SC had taken suo motu cognizance of a letter written by former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president and senior lawyer Vikas Singh and had issued a number of directions for usage of technology for conducting hearings in courts across the country during the Covid lock-down. The SC bench comprising CJI SA Bobde and justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said that “We must say that the system of video-conferencing has been extremely successful in providing access to justice.”

The bench added that the directions issued by it earlier need not change except the one related to the power of the high courts to decide on the course of the virtual hearings. “We propose to substitute sub-para (vii) of Paragraph 6 with the following: The Video Conferencing in every High Court and within the jurisdiction of every High Court shall be conducted according to the Rules for that purpose framed by that High Court.

The order reads “The Rules will govern Video Conferencing in the High Court and in the district courts and shall cover appellate proceedings as well as trials. We are given to understand that several High Courts have framed their rules already. Those High Courts that have not framed such Rules shall do so having regard to the circumstances prevailing in the state. Till such Rules are framed, the High Courts may adopt the model Video Conferencing Rules provided by the e-committee, Supreme Court of India…,”

The AG agreed that the system of video-conferencing has worked very well but pointed out the “glitches” in the functioning of the facility in the SC, while requesting Justice Chandrachud, who heads the e-committee, to take necessary steps.

Justice Chandrachud said “Right now, every high court is either on Zoom or Cisco or Vidyo” and added that tenders have been issued to find a person to take care of the complete video-conferencing facility of the apex court and for the high courts and trial courts, a national tender would be given to ensure a common virtual hearing platform. He told the AG that there is a delay of 20 seconds between the live streaming and actual proceedings in the Gujarat High Court. This ensures that nothing untoward gets live cast.