For the first time in history, the Supreme Court proceedings were live streamed on Friday, more than three years after it recommended live-streaming for its hearings.
The live streaming was done for the ceremonial bench of outgoing Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana.
"Please take notice that on the eve of laying down the office of the Chief Justice of India, the proceedings of the Hon'ble Chief Justice Court i.e., Ceremonial Bench on August 26, 2022, 10.30 a.m. onwards shall be live streamed through the NIC Webcast portal," said a notice issued by the apex court, adding that the link could also be accessed from the website of the Supreme Court of India.
As per the custom, Justice Ramana shared the bench with Chief Justice-designate Justice U.U. Lalit on his last working day.
Justice Lalit had been recently appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India and will take over after the retirement of CJI Ramana.
The top court also live streamed hearing of cases and pronouncement of orders, for the first time, listed in the CJI's court.
The top court's order on freebies was amongst the orders which were live streamed.
However, it is not clear whether live streaming of court proceedings will become a regular feature.
In 2018, the apex court ruled that live telecast of court proceedings are part of the right to access justice under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The top cour's e-committee came out with model guidelines to regulate live-streaming of court proceedings in India.
Six high courts are live streaming their proceedings through their own channels on YouTube.