As part of the experimental move, transcripts would be shared with the counsel appearing in the matter so that they could look into it in order to remove errors. By the evening, all errors would be rectified by the concerned personnel in the court’s registry.
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IN a historic move, the Supreme Court, for the first time, will have transcripts of oral arguments made in the court. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday told the advocates present in his court that proceedings of the Constitution benches would be live transcribed on an experimental basis.
The CJI added that the transcripts would be shared with the counsel appearing in the matter so that they could look into it in order to remove errors. By the evening, all the errors would be rectified by the concerned personnel in the registry, he added.
“We will just see how it works, at least in Constitution bench matters. We will have a permanent record of arguments. Of course, it helps the judges and the lawyers, but also helps our law colleges. They can analyse how matters are argued. It is a huge resource,” the CJI said.
A five-judge Constitution bench comprising CJI Dr. Chandrachud and Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha is presently hearing a matter pertaining to the recent constitutional crisis in Maharashtra.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was in the court to argue before a Constitution bench, termed the decision a ‘milestone’.
Soon after the announcement, there was an exchange of banter between the bench and the lawyers. Justice Shah told the advocates that the reason why CJI decided this was to tell advocates not to interrupt each other. Otherwise, that will be difficult. Argue one by one. One at a time.
“Posterity will all get to know what foolish arguments we made,” said senior advocate Sibal in a lighter vein, which made the courtroom burst into laughter. Justice Shah was quick to say, “Nobody admits it“.
Justice Narasimha said the court would truly be a ‘court of record’, adding that every word will be recorded.
Article 129 of the Constitution states that the Supreme Court is a court of record.
Sharing the experience of courts in New York in the United States, Sibal said that in the Examination Before Trial proceedings, they would record everything as far back as in the 1970s.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta referred to e-courts in Gujarat where even the internal whispering among lawyers is also recorded. This invited a remark from Sibal, who said that “it is very dangerous. That’s hazardous“.
“If there are two or more voices at the same time, that causes a little bit of a problem. The registry has personnel who will clean up the errors by evening. They suggested that during the course of the day, counsel will get a link so that they can correct it,” explained the CJI.
In 2018, the Supreme Court allowed the live streaming of cases of national importance on a plea filed by senior advocate Indira Jaising. The court had said that “live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings at least in respect to cases of Constitutional and national importance, having an impact on the public at large or on a large number of people in India, may be a good beginning.”
However, the decision was not implemented for three years. It was only after Jaising wrote a letter in September last year to the Supreme Court judges, requesting the court to begin live streaming of proceedings of matters of public and constitutional importance, the full court of the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to live streaming proceedings of Constitution bench matters.
