SC administration cannot be compelled to do anything, Justice Arun Mishra while hearing plea for live streaming guidelines

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to issue directions in an application seeking framing of guidelines to effectuate live streaming of court proceedings..The matter was heard by a three-judge Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and MR Shah.While rejecting the prayer made by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, Justice Arun Mishra observed that judicial orders could not be passed to issue directions to the administrative side.Justice Mishra, while referring to the Swapnil Tripathi judgment, stated that it did not in any way hold that directions were required to be issued at the behest of judicial orders. He said,“It was supposed to be a phased ‘pilot project’. This aspect of framing guidelines comes much later.”.On the other hand, Jaising contended that it was imperative that the guidelines formulated by the Swapnil Tripathi Judgment were implemented.“Live streaming is part and parcel of open justice, the Court must issue directions to effectuate guidelines”, she said.Justice Mishra retorted,.“Don’t tell us what we can and what we can’t do, we are very much aware of this.”Justice Arun Mishra.At this juncture, Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted that the Bench had the power to issue directions to the Supreme Court administration in order to comply with all modalities laid out in the Swapnil Tripathi judgment.He added that the Secretary General of the Supreme Court, who was present in Court, may be issued directions in order to take appropriate steps.Justice Arun Mishra, however, rejected the AG's suggestion. He observed that this lay in the purview of the administrative side, and judicial orders could not be passed in this regard.“You cannot compel the Court to enforce anything”, Justice Mishra stated..The application, filed by Jaising has now been listed before the administrative roster of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde..Last week, a Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjeev Khanna had issued notice in the application, while directing that a copy be supplied to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court. The matter was eventually listed before the Bench headed by Justice Mishra..Supreme Court issues notice in Indira Jaising’s application seeking framing of rules for live streaming of proceedings .In Swapnil Tripathi v. Supreme Court of India, the Apex Court had held that matters of national importance being heard by it should be live streamed and video recorded. It was held that this would bring about more transparency in the system.The Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud had also directed the framing of rules to regulate live streaming of proceedings.