New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided to livestream hearings at its Constitutional Bench from September 27 onwards allowing public to know about cases including challenges to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the revocation of special status under Article 370 to Jammu and Kashmir.
The ruling in favour of allowing livestreaming was deal out in 2018 based on citizen rights under Article 21 of the Constitution; however the ruling remained unimplemented. The steps towards livestreaming come after the new Chief Justice of India (CJI), Uday Umesh Lalit has taken over office, according to The Indian Express.
A full court meeting presided over by him recently gave nod to livestreaming in constitutional cases before allowing coverage of all proceedings.
On August 26 Chief Justice NV Ramana livestreamed his last day in office, giving momentum to the demand for streaming all proceedings.
Back in the days when the Covid was raging, courts functioned through video-conferencing proving that technology was adequate enough to carry out livestreaming.
A further push came when senior lawyer Indira Jaising wrote to the judges for livestreaming "in matters of public and constitutional importance… to keep a permanent record of the arguments by counsel on all sides along with the proceedings of the court."
Indira Jaising further noted that infrastructure required for streamlining is available citing the live ceremonial proceedings of Justice Ramana's retirement.