Plea seeking live telecast or recording of Ayodhya case be listed before CJI: SC

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New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Friday said a plea seeking live telecast or recording of the hearing in the Ayodhya land dispute case be listed before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI is hearing the Ayodhya case. The plea, filed by former RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya seeking live streaming or recording of the case proceedings, came up before a bench of justices R F Nariman and Surya Kant.

The bench after hearing the brief submission of senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was representing Govindacharya, said the matter should come up for hearing before a bench presided over by the CJI.

Govindacharya in his plea has referred to the last year’s verdict and said that the right to know is a fundamental right and necessary orders be passed for live streaming of proceedings in the Ayodhya matter.

On September 26, 2018, the apex court had allowed live-streaming of court proceedings of cases of constitutional and national importance, saying this openness was like “sunlight” which is the “best disinfectant”.

The plea has also mentioned that the Supreme Court’s order on June 25 last year, which allowed journalists to carry mobile phones inside court rooms, said an unofficial record of proceedings was being made through tweets, and therefore, why couldn’t the top court not create an authentic official record of the proceedings.

It said the court was hearing the matter on miscellaneous days, including Fridays and Mondays, which shows that it was dealing with the Ayodhya matter extraordinarily, therefore, audio-recording could be “started immediately”.