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Synopsis

The Tamil Nadu State Legislative Assembly Secretariat on April 16 submitted before the Madras High Court that information is being collected from various States regarding the live telecasting of Assembly proceedings. Some States have responded and some States have not yet responded, the court was informed. 

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sathya Narayana Prasad was told that the Assembly Speaker is evaluating all the probabilities and upon receipt of the entire information from the other States, a decision would be taken.

Taking the submissions on record, the division bench posted the matter for further consideration on June 25, 2024. 

The submissions were made in a batch of pleas including 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.

In January, the high court had 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 Advocate General had then informed the court that the question hour and call attention motion proceedings were already being telecast. However, he had 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 had then suggested telecasting the proceedings with a slight delay. Emphasizing that any unparliamentary remarks made by politicians would work against them, the court had 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