Madras HC Asks TN Assembly Secretariat To Consider Live Broadcast With Short Lag

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Synopsis

Court asked the Advocate General to get instructions on the same by March 11

The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu State Legislative Assembly Secretariat to consider broadcasting legislative assembly proceedings with a slight time delay of five to 10 minutes, allowing the speaker to remove any unparliamentary or objectionable content.

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy asked the Advocate General PS Raman to get instructions on the same by March 11, the next date of hearing. 

The order was passed in a 2015 writ petition filed by Late A Vijaykanth, leader of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, another plea by D Jagadheeswaran, State president of Lok Satta Party, and a 2023 writ petition by SP Velumani, chief whip of the AIADMK party, seeking live telecast of the TN Assembly proceedings.

On Tuesday, the Advocate General informed the court that the question hour and call attention motion proceedings were already being telecast. However, he asserted that live telecasting of the entire parliamentary proceedings might not be feasible due to the potential occurrence of unparliamentary statements, which the speaker typically expunges from the record.

In response, the court suggested telecasting the proceedings with a slight delay.

The court remarked as to why state legislative proceedings could not be telecast when parliamentary proceedings were already live.

Emphasizing that any unparliamentary remarks made by politicians would work against them, the court expressed that if such a thing is not desired, the Secretariat can broadcast the proceedings with a short delay.

Case Title: Vijaykant v The Secretary