The Supreme Court Bar Association wrote to the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the court on Saturday that hearing of cases through videoconference should not become the “new normal” and replace the open court system even after the lockdown was lifted.
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“Once the lockdown is lifted and once the Ministry of Health permits, open court hearings should commence with social distancing norms and crowd management measures made mandatory on the court premises. Live-streaming and transcription of court proceedings should also be done along with open court hearings,” a resolution said.
The resolution said live-streaming of hearings should start even during the lockdown. The SCAB referred to the court’s 1966 judgment in the Naresh Shridhar Mirajkar case which had said “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, courts must generally hear causes in open and must permit public admission to the courtroom”.
It was in 2018 that the court held in its Swapnil Tripathi judgment that “live-streaming of courtroom proceedings is an extension of the principle of open courts”.
