Kerala High Court frames norms for court reporting, LLB mandatory for accreditation

The stand-off between media personnel and lawyers in Kerala has culminated in framing of guidelines for reporting High Court proceedings. The norms have been framed by the Kerala High Court, and were approved at a Full Court meeting held on November 10..As per the guidelines, only an accredited legal correspondent will, henceforth, be eligible for reporting on proceedings in the High Court..For being eligible for regular accreditation, a reporter must have a Law degree recognised by the ‘Bar Council of India’..Further, the applicant must have at least 5 years continuous regular court reporting experience in a daily newspaper or any national or international news agency or electronic media. In case of a newspaper or news agency, 3 and a half years out of the 5 years’ experience, should be at the Kerala High Court, Supreme Court or any other High Court in India. For electronic media, the mandate is two years experience..Besides these, the applicant must have reported from the Kerala High Court for at least six months on a temporary accreditation..The condition for temporary accreditation also mandates a law degree, as well as two years of work experience with at least one year of reporting in any of the High Courts in India. This temporary accreditation is valid for a maximum of three years..Besides accreditation, the court has kept open a “temporary reporting facility” as per which the Registrar General can grant such facility for a “day or a short duration” to a journalist..The accreditation norms have been framed in the aftermath of the violent clashes between journalists and lawyers which had ultimately resulted in the Bar keeping the media out of court precincts in courts across the State..While the Supreme Court of India has accreditation norms in place, it could be the first time that a High Court is framing such Rules to regulate court reporting..Whether things between the Bar and media would return to normalcy after this step by the High Court remains to be seen..Read the norms below.