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Synopsis

Justice AS Oka recently remarked that constitutional matters being heard by the Supreme Court of India should be live-streamed.

"I am a strong advocate of live streaming. It will bring about transparency", added the judge.

Talking about allegations of courts being opaque, Justice Oka said that live streaming would help people see how difficult the lives of lawyers and Judges are and why matters take so long.

Let the public understand how courts function. Live streaming cannot be for all kinds of cases, It can be for Constitutional issues to begin with as is being done by the Top Court, he said.

While speaking at an event organized by the Bombay Bar Association, the Advocates Association of Western India and the Bombay Incorporated Law Society on “The Role of Technology in Courts”, Justice Oka further enumerated how he had stressed on the use of technology during the lockdown at the Karnataka High Court where he had served as the Chief Justice.

"It is a misconception that the judiciary started using technology only after the nationwide lockdown was implemented in March 2020. The lockdown was only a trigger, we had been using technology much prior to that....", he added.

Justice Oka also emphasized on the use of technology being the only way forward and said that digitisation of all files before the trial courts and district courts would be the next step.

He also stressed on compulsory e-filing of cases and paperless courts. "We keep calling for record from the trial courts. After files are digitized, we will get digital files,” he said.

While concluding, the Supreme Court judge added that we should keep on improvising ourselves and adopt the advancements of technology as it might bring an ease in the functioning of courts.