From now, Live streaming in Supreme Court

New Delhi, Jul 10: In a shocking decision, The Supreme Court on Monday said that it has no problem live-telecasting the proceedings of the court.

The bench was responding to a petition filed by senior advocate Indira Jaisingh. The Centre has also said that it would set up a dedicated TV Channel on the lines of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha TV.

In a step aimed at bringing transparency and accountability, the Supreme Court on Monday said it was open to live streaming of its proceedings under "comprehensive and holistic guidelines".

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that if they go for live streaming, it would start off with one court as a pilot project and then it could be extended to the remaining courts.

The bench sought the assistance of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and other senior lawyers.

Venugopal told the court that the government would set up a dedicated channel on the lines of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TVs if the court decided to go for live telecast of its proceedings.

Justice Chandrachud said that the live streaming would bring transparency and access to justice. He said the litigants would know what transpired during the hearing of their cases.

"I may not be present in the court, yet I will be able to know what is happening," said Justice Chandrachud while pointing out that clients and litigants have the right to know if a matter was being adjourned and why.

"We are only enforcing the principle of open-court hearing," the court said.

In the course of his submissions, the Attorney General said that the live streaming of the top court's proceedings would discourage some lawyers from raising their voices.

"There won't be raising of voices," he said, in an apparent reference to a situation in the past when lawyers became too loud in making a point, a conduct not appreciated by the court.