NEW DELHI: Attorney general K K Venugopal on Monday suggested to the Supreme Court that live telecast of its proceedings could be started on an experimental basis for important matters before constitution benches.

Venugopal told a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud after considering the suggestions of petitioners, the Centre was of the opinion live streaming of court proceedings could be done on an experimental basis rather than full scale.

When the bench agreed “there should be some kind of experimentation”, the AG said to begin with, the apex court could live stream proceedings of important matters in the CJI’s courtroom and depending on its success, response and technical feasibility, the SC could gradually expand live streaming to other courtrooms.

The bench asked the AG to give a concrete proposal in a week along with technical feasibility and manner of usage of the footage of court proceedings.

Petitioner Indira Jaising said no person should be allowed to create video clips of court proceedings and circulate it on social media, over which there is little control. She added telecast footage must not be used by anyone for commercial purposes.

Appearing for some law students, advocate Virag Gupta said live telecast of proceedings was a welcome step but warned of the pitfalls in the age of social media and possible intrusion into litigants’ privacy.

The AG said live telecast of important constitutional matters in the CJI’s courtroom, which gets packed with inquisitive advocates, could reduce the crowd inside the court if a hall was provided with TV screens to show the proceedings. The SC had repeatedly rejected PILs and appeals for live telecasting.

During the last hearing, the CJI-led bench had said, “As a principle, (live telecast) is an acceptable concept. Our courts are open courts. We can extend the openness to the virtual world.”

