KARNATAKA HC ISSUES NOTICE IN PIL FOR AUDIO-VIDEO RECORDING OF PROCEEDINGS DISHA GUPTA Legal Article Wed, Jan 15, 2020, at ,11:32 AM The Karnataka HC division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar issued notice to the Union/State Government seeking their response on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Dilraj Rohit Sequeira to implement audio-video recording in the courts of the State as it benefits the litigants, advocates and public in many ways. The petition states that the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution takes within its ambit full access to the proceedings of courts and tribunals. The court directed the authorities to file their reply by February 17, the next date of hearing. The petitioner avers that though the Supreme Court in 2018 called for live streaming of court proceedings for the larger interest of the public in the case of Swapnil Thripathi & Ors v. Supreme Court of India & Ors (AIR 2018 SC 4806), the same is yet to be implemented in reality. The PIL prays for a direction to implement the judgment in Swapnil Tripathi in which it is said that "Chief Justice of the High Courts should be commended to consider the adoption of live streaming in High Court and in the district judiciaries in phases commensurate with available resources and technical support. High courts would have to determine the modalities for doing so by framing appropriate rules." The plea says that seeking implementation of the audio-video recording of the court proceedings form part of Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution, particularly Articles 14 and 21. This takes within its ambit the right to have the proceedings of all Courts and Tribunals video-record, so too have access to the proceedings. The plea prays for directions to implement the judgment of the Apex court to provide for streaming of such proceedings and live telecast of matters of public interest and to respondents to provide infrastructure for the purpose of Audio-video, recording in the courts, tribunal, and forums of state of Karnataka. The matter will be next heard on February 12.