On Tuesday, Supreme Court Judge, Justice DY Chandrachud, who has been advocating the use of technology in legal proceedings for quite some time now, made some interesting remarks on the use of electronic devices in courtrooms.
During the course of a hearing Senior Advocate, Mr. Vijay Hansaria apprised Justice Chandrachud that he has been told the judges of High Courts and subordinate judiciary do not encourage the use of phones inside the courtrooms.
Indicating that there should be a change in the mindset, Justice Chandrachud narrated an incident where he found someone recording what was being said in his courtroom. He remarked that instead of taking the traditional view on the issue, he had reflected that if something is being said in open court then there is no harm in recording it.
“Yesterday, I saw someone in my court using a mobile device, possibly recording what we were saying. I said (to myself), if I am saying something in open court and if somebody wants to record it, what is the big deal? Anyway we are saying it in open court.”
However, he added a caveat that one should refrain from prying into the discussions that the Judges have among themselves during the course of the hearing.
The conversation in this regard emanated from Justice Chandrachud finding out counsels referring to hard copy of compilations. He commented that the Apex Court has been encouraging advocates to refer to soft copies of judgments, as it would save paper as well as relieve them from carrying massive compilations with them.
“We are tired of telling to read soft copies from SCC OnLine.”
Senior Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kumar joined Justice Chandrachud’s appeal to refer to online copies of judgments. He shared an anecdote –
“Justice GSSinghvi used to say why are you wasting paper and making compilations, we have books in courts.They are lying there occupying so much space.”
Justice Chandrachud indicated that he would ask the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Mr. Vikas Singh to arrange for a training session during the October vacations to facilitate advocates to use technology in court hearings.
“I will request Mr. Vikas Singh to do something in this regard (training) in the October vacation.”
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