Greeva Garg –
The Madhya Pradesh High Court administration has made its decision on providing weblinks on its website to access its Live Court Proceedings. The Court proceedings currently held via video conferencing mode will be available online soon.
The Court has stated this decision on a writ plea filed by the four journalists, Nupur Thapliyal and Sparsh Upadhyay (Live Law), Areeb Uddin Ahmed (Bar & Bench), Rahul Dubey (Dainik Bhaskar Prakashan), seeking better access to the High Court Proceedings.
The High Court administration bringing on record minutes of E-committee has resolved the issue by approving virtual streaming of the Court proceedings through a weblink available on its website i.e., www.mphc.gov.in. The resolution to its effect was passed on June 15 based on the meeting of the High Court’s E-committee held on June 14.
The petition by journalists challenged the High Court of Madhya Pradesh Video conferencing and Audio-Visual Electronic Linkage Rules, 2020. They supported it by stating that it precludes third parties from accessing virtual court proceedings and causes difficulty to media persons in real-time reporting on a public forum for citizens.
However, this response of the Court does not state when the links will be provided on the website. Whether these links will be consolidated or separate links for each Court proceeding will be provided, this is also uncertain.
Earlier three of the petitioners moved to Allahabad High Court seeking for similar reliefs.