Live-Streaming Of Court Proceedings: Karnataka High Court Directs Registrar General To Expedite Framing Of Rules

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum in their order noted,

"It is brought to the notice of this court by the learned counsel appearing for the High Court that the live streaming rules are pending before the High Court Committee, the Registrar is directed to expedite the process."

Appearing for the High Court, Advocate B V Vidyulatha informed the court that the draft rules for live streaming of court proceedings is pending before the High Court Committee. Following this, the court directed that on the next date of hearing, the High Court shall inform the progress made in Karnataka in respect of live streaming.

It was in 2018 that the Supreme Court approved in principle the concept of live-streaming of important court hearings. However, it is yet to be implemented. Gujarat High Court is the only court that live-streams the proceedings through YouTube. Recently, proceedings in some cases were live-streamed from the court of the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on a trial basis.

The bench also noted that as regards the facility of e-filing of cases, the facility is available in all court establishments in the state of Karnataka. The court issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Dilraj Rohit Sequeira, in 2019 seeking e-filing facility.

As per an earlier report submitted to the court by Registrar (Computers), it was noted that the e-Filing facility through the portal had been enabled a long time ago, but very few members of the Bar have taken advantage of the same. It is further recorded in the report that parties in person who have registered themselves as users on the e-Filing Portal as on 13th July 2021 are much more than the advocates.

Case Title: Dilraj Rohit Sequeira v. Union Of India

Case No: 50883/2019