Point of Law: Right to know and receive information is one of the facets of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and for which reason, the public is entitled to witness the Court proceedings involving the issue having an impact on the public at large or a section of the public, as the case may be

JUDGMENT :

J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

1. By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicant, a 3rd year law student studying with the Nirma University, has prayed for the following reliefs:

“(a) Your Lordships, during the pendency of this petition be pleased to grant interim relief of open-public access to the virtual hearings of the High Court of Gujarat and frame necessary rules thereof.

(b) Your Lordships, be pleased to admit and allow the petition.

(c) Your Lordships, be pleased to declare that proceedings of High Court of Gujarat be live streamed and necessary steps be taken by the Registry for setting up Live-Streaming mechanism in courtrooms.

(d) Your Lordships, be pleased to frame guidelines or rules to administer live streaming of court proceedings.

(e) Your Lordships, be pleased to grant further relief as deemed just in fact and circumstances of the case in the interest of justice.”

2. The case put up by the writ applicant, in his own words, as pleaded in the memorandum of the writ application, reads thus:

“4.1 The petitioner humbly states and submits that the with the spread of COVID-19 pandemic Hon'ble Court High Court has started hearing cases through virtual mode.

4.2 The petitioner most respectfully submits that e-filing and virtual hearings are welcome steps in furtherance of digitalization of Courts. However, the present set-up of virtual hearings is inaccessible to public at large including litigants, media personnel and law students etc.

4.3 The petitioner further submits that the right of access to justice flows from Article 21 of the Constitution. The concept of justice at the doorstep, would be meaningful only if the public gets access to the proceedings as it would unfold before the Courts and in particular, opportunity to witness live proceedings in respect of matters having an impact on the public at large or on section of people.

4.4 The petitioner further submits that indisputably, open trials and access to the public during hearing of cases before the Court is an accepted proposition and can be traced to provisions such as Section 327 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) and Section 153-B of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC).

4.5 The petitioner further submits that Live streaming/Open Access of Court proceedings is feasible due to the advent of technology and, in fact, has been adopted in other jurisdictions across the world as well in few other High Courts. Even in normal parlance physical hearings ought to be made more accessible by setting up live-streaming mechanism.

4.6 The petitioner submits that amidst the pandemic restrictions and safety measures United States Supreme Court is conducting hearing through teleconference which is being live streamed in real time. The Supreme Court of United Kingdom live streams its proceedings in normal court and is being continuing to do so at present. The Kerala High Court is live-streaming its hearings. The Bombay High Court had also held open-for-public videoconferencing hearing. Rule 16.1 of High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts 2020 states that: “to observe the requirement of an open Court proceedings, members of the public will be allowed to view Court hearings conducted through video conferencing, except proceedings ordered for reasons recorded in writing to be conducted in-camera. The Court shall endeavour to make available sufficient links (consistent with available bandwidth) for accessing the proceedings.” Pursuant to Rule 16.1 Delhi High Court on 20th June 2020 vide Circular No. 01/IT/DHC/2020 ordered that links will be offered for public.

6. That the petitioner made a representation in this regard on 23rd April, 2020 to Hon'ble Chief Justice of Gujarat and other companion Judges of High Court of Gujarat through E-mail.”

3. Thus, the writ applicant has raised the issue relating to the