AG wants streaming of court proceedings

nNEWDELHI: Attorney General KK Venugopal advocated videostreaming of court proceedings across India so that court hearings anywhere in the country are accessible, and “capacity” of lawyers and judges can be ascertained.

He said one silver lining of Covid-19 and the lockdown of courts was that it compelled the legal fraternity to adopt e-filing of cases and hearing through video conferencing.

“I would suggest that we go one step further and have video streaming as well so that the entire population of lawyers will be able to listen to any case which is going on in any court in this country. We would be able to judge the capacity of judges and lawyers, and the nature of cases which are being handled in courts including lower courts, district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court,” he said.

Venugopalwasspeakingatthe launch of a district-level awareness programme in regional languages on e-court services by the Supreme Court e-committee.

“I never believed that we could have progressed to this extent. Now I am optimistic that in due course, all courts in the country will be e-courts. I am sure that in the next one year, the whole of this country will be familiar with e-courts. We should congratulate the e-committee for what they have achieved,” the Attorney General said at the inaugural function held via video conference on July 25.

The work of the Supreme Court e-committee has been on an overdrive after the Covid-19induced lockdown.

The e-committee is proposing to introduce radical changes to filing of cases across the country by introduction and operationalisation of e-filing to replace physical filing of cases.