Supreme Court Justice Chandrachud said all courts must be open for public viewership

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, on Saturday said that “all courts across the country must open their proceedings for public viewership”

Chandrachud’s remarks came during the virtual book release by Professor Dr. Balram K Gupta (Professor Emeritus, and Director- Academics, Chandigarh Judicial Academy), on Saturday.

Unless judicial proceedings are open for public viewership, it would not be possible for the public to understand the nature of work undertaken by the courts, Justice Chandrachud said at a virtual book release event by author Balram K Gupta.

If judicial proceedings are open to the public, Justice Chandrachud said, it will not only give legitimacy to the judicial institution but also further the democratic principle of accountability.

“Though legal journalism is on the rise and reporting of judicial proceedings has gained traction, it has its own limitations. Unless judicial proceedings are open for public viewership, it would not be possible for the public to understand the nature of work undertaken by courts. Streaming of judicial proceedings is also a mode of education for law students, the young and the old of the Bar,” Justice Chandrachud noted.

Almost three years after the Supreme Court agreed to live streaming of its proceedings, its e-committee led by Justice Chandrachud had in June last year come up with draft guidelines containing a regulatory framework for the purpose.

"While data on disposal rate and judgments is easily available in the public domain, the behaviour of a judge in the courtroom is not easily ascertainable... Unless this important indicator of performance evaluation is publicly available, it would be difficult to evaluate the performance of a judge and would pose challenges to judicial accountability," the Supreme Court judge said.

He strongly delivered that in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been struggling to keep our systems open consistent with the fundamental norm of open justice on which all democratic societies ought to be founded.