Once the report is received, further action to allow access to the public at large, including mediapersons of print, digital and electronic media, shall be finalised, the court notified.
Disposing a public interest litigation (PIL) that had sought live-streaming of proceedings in courtrooms so that such virtual hearings are accessible to the public, the Gujarat High Court (HC), in its July 20 judgment, noted that a committee of two judges has been formed to look into such modalities and the same is under process, with a report expected on its feasibility in the “near future”.
The court noted that the right to know and receive information is, indeed, a facet in our Constitution and that the “public is entitled to witness the Court proceedings involving the issue having an impact on the public at large or a section of the public, as the case may be.”
“…Members of the public should be allowed to view the Court hearings conducted through the video conferencing, except the proceedings ordered for the reasons recorded in writing to be conducted in-camera. As held by the Supreme Court…, the public confidence in the administration of justice is of such great significance that there can be no two opinions on the broad proposition that in discharging their functions as judicial Tribunals, the Courts must generally hear the causes in open and must permit the public admission to the Courtroom,” stated the judgment.
The court to this effect informed the petitioner that for the purpose of working out the modalities to facilitate the public to watch the virtual hearing, including the media, a committee of two judges of the HC has been constituted pursuant to a decision taken by the Standing Committee in its meeting held on June 25. The committee is working on the modalities and “would be placing its report in the near future.”
Once the report is received, further action to allow access to the public at large, including mediapersons of print, digital and electronic media, shall be finalised, the court notified.
The PIL was filed by Pruthvirajsinh Zala, a third-year law student at Nirma University, who was appearing in person in the matter. The division bench led by Chief Justice Vikram Nath also appreciated the petitioner as a “bright, young third-year law student,”….who had “taken up this cause in public interest and has assisted this Court very ably furnishing important materials. We appreciate the efforts put in by the writ applicant appearing in person in public interest.”
Zala had also made a comparative representation before the HC, furnishing details of courts already conducting virtually public proceedings, such as the Kerala HC and the modalities put in place for the same.