News Edition 24 Desk: The Supreme Court on Thursday launched a facility in its mobile app for providing links to virtual hearings to media persons.
The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana launched the facility in a virtual event which was also attended by Justices DY Chandrachud, AM Khanwilkar and Hemant Gupta.
Justice Chandrachud and Khanwilkar are both recovering from COVID-19.
Apart from launching the mobile facility, the CJI also said that the Supreme Court was introducing a feature of “Indicative Notes” on its website and mobile app which will summarise landmark judgements.
The CJI further noted that he was actively considering live streaming of proceedings for some Courts, but would seek consensus from all Judges before launching the same. He would additionally appoint a senior official to act as the point of contact between the Supreme Court and the media. The CJI also said that he has given directions to rationalize the process for giving accreditation to media persons.
The event commenced with the CJI remarking, “Our media friends, you need not bother coming to Court. You can sit at home and watch the proceedings. Everyone has worked hard on this.”
Justice Gupta then took over to note that the initiative would increase transparency, but the only caveat would be that the link which would be given should not be shared with unauthorized persons.
Justice Chandrachud then took over and said, “One thing I’ll like to say which the Chief won’t say as he is a self-effacing person. When I asked him to set this up, he responded in less than three days and also emphasized on the need to provide access to journalists. There was no need to impress upon the Chief. He readily agreed.”
The Judge then observed that he hoped the access to links would ensure the safety of journalists as they are exposed to outer world on a regular basis.
Justice Khanwilkar concurred with this and stated that keeping in mind the important association of the media with the Supreme Court, and also because the media is rendering an essential service which has to be harnessed, the institution wanted to pay back to them for their service.