[Plea for live reporting] Allahabad High Court seeks 'complete' details from its Registry on steps taken to make proceedings accessible to public

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday sought response from its administrative side on the steps taken by the High Court to make court proceedings accessible to public in the light of the directions issued by the Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi v. Union of India (Areeb Uddin Ahmed & Ors v. Allahabad High Court). .A Division Bench comprising Justices Pankaj Naqvi and Jayant Banerji directed the Standing Counsel appearing for the High Court administration, Ashish Mishra to seek complete instructions about what steps have been taken in this regard.The Court was hearing a petition filed by two journalists, Areeb Uddin Ahmed (Bar and Bench) and Sparsh Upadhyay (Live Law), to allow live reporting and streaming of High Court proceedings.Advocate Shashwat Anand appeared on behalf of the petitioners.The petition was filed in the backdrop of restricted access to court proceedings during the ongoing COVID - 19 pandemic situation to litigants and media personnel.Even in the pre-COVID-19 era, Court proceedings before the Allahabad High Court were largely inaccessible to the public at large, the plea stated.The plea invoked the fundamental right to press, which is part of the right to freedom of speech in order to gain access to virtual or physical hearings and report the same as they occur."The said right corresponds with the people’s right to know and to access justice and the all-encompassing dignity of the populace," the petition said. .The petitioners also sought appointment of a High Powered Committee headed by a sitting or retired Judge(s) of Allahabad High Court and a panel of Experts, to work out and provide appropriate recommendations for the live streaming/telecast of Court proceedings and to facilitate easy access of media persons/Journalists.."Open Court, Open Justice:" Journalists move Allahabad High Court for access to court rooms, VC hearings to report High Court proceedings live.Alternatively, they sought leave for free access to the journalists or media persons to join the virtual hearing so that arguments of counsel, parties and remarks of judges can be reported live on Twitter and other platforms.The petition also stated that easy access be granted to journalists to physically enter the court room premises by showing their IDs or special media passes..The case will be heard again on Thursday. ."Can media report what does not come on record?:" Madhya Pradesh High Court asks, issues notice in plea to allow live reporting of proceedings.On a similar note, the same petitioners had also moved the Madhya Pradesh (MP) High Court seeking similar reliefs. The MP High Court issued notice to its Registry posted the case for further hearing on June 9..A Division Bench of Justices Sheel Nagu and GS Ahluwalia issued notice in the petition challenging restrictions imposed on access to virtual court proceedings to persons other than lawyers under the High Court of Madhya Pradesh Video Conferencing and Audio- Visual Electronic Linkage Rules, 2020..Madhya Pradesh High Court to hear plea to allow live-streaming, live reporting of court proceedings tomorrow.In this regard, Justice Sheel Nagu said: "So far as the court being open for public view is considered, they should be open, it should be held in public view, unless that person creates nuisance," he said.Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate, Nidhesh Gupta submitted that the Madhya Pradesh High Court Video Conferencing Rules appears contrary to the rules being followed by the rest of the country in requiring a specific Court order for a third party to have access to a video conference hearing.