 bill no 15 of  2016 the right to access of judicial proceedings and information bill, 2016 byshri rajeev satav, mp a billto provide for access to judicial proceedings of the supreme court and its benches by prescribing digital recording of all judicial proceedings and making them available online to the public in general to foster greater accountability and for the matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary(2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmir (3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointapplication of the act2 the provisions of this act shall apply exclusively to the proceedings of the supreme court and its benches5definitions3 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "audio-visual content" means the content containing both audio and video components and stored in a digital format;10(b) "judicial proceedings" means proceedings taking place before the supreme court or any of its benches;22 of 2005(c) "information" includes such information as may be obtained under the right to information act, 2005;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and (e) "secretariat" means the supreme court secretariat established under section 415 chapter ii establishment of the supreme court secretariat for recording, storage and access of judicial proceedings20establishment of secretariat4 (1) the central government shall, after consultation with the chief justice of india, by notification in the official gazette, establish a secretariat to be known as the supreme court secretariat for carrying out the purposes of this act(2) the secretariat shall work under overall supervision of the chief justice of india25(3) the central government shall appoint such number of officers and employees to the secretariat, as may be necessary, to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of this act(4) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of officers and employees of the secretariat shall be such as may be prescribed305 the secretariat shall—functions of the secretariat(i) make audio-video recording of all judicial proceedings; (ii) make audio-visual recording of such other information as may be prescribed;35(iii) upload on especially created website, the judicial proceedings and information referred to in clauses (i) and (ii);(iv) maintain a database of all judicial proceedings and information; (v) create a database of the audio-visual archives within twenty four hours of any hearing including the name of the judge, parties involved, date of hearing, chamber number, case number and case type,40to ensure easy access to the judicial proceedings and informationpenalty6 save as otherwise provided in section 7, whoever, responsible for uploading judicialproceedings or information, fails by way of negligence or omission, to upload the judicial proceedings or information, shall be suspended from the service immediately and an enquirycommittee consisting of such officials as may be prescribed, shall be constituted to recommend appropriate action chapter iii refusal of recording or sharing of judicial proceedings| 22 of 2005                                                                                   ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| 7                                                                                            || (1)                                                                                           || save as otherwise provided in section 8 of the right to information act, 2005,                || every citizen shall have the right to access to audio-visual contents of judicial proceedings || and information                                                                              || right to                                                                                      || access to                                                                                     || judicial                                                                                      || proceedings                                                                                  |10(2) if during the course of a judicial proceeding, a judge of the supreme court feelsthat a particular proceeding should not be recorded or once recorded should not be shared with the public, the judge may direct the secretariat not to record that judicial proceeding or withhold such recording from uploading on the especially created website, as the case may be15(3) whenever a judge orders not to record any judicial proceeding or withhold suchrecording from uploading on especially created website, he shall record his reasons in writing in doing so and make such reasons available to the public through the especially created website chapter iv miscellaneous208 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being in forceact not in derogation of other law power to remove difficulties9 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government may, by order, make such provisions or give such directions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of the difficulty:25provided that no such order or direction shall be made or given after the expiry of twoyears from the commencement of this actpower to make rules10 (1) the central government may, by notification and in consultation with the chiefjustice of india, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this act3035(2) every rule made under this section shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and, if before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe supreme court is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal under the constitution of india with the power of judicial reviewat present, the proceedings of the supreme court are available in public domain in the text format after each hearing however, as the proceedings are lengthy, the arguments involved are complex, understanding of justice and the rationale behind the judgement becomes difficult for a common manadding two more sensory sources for information 'audio and video' will increase the effectiveness as well as the speed of dissemination of the legal information, both to the legal fraternity as well as common public at largein today's world, some of the legal issues are too complex where some of the expressions of the opposing view on the bench are lost in plain text format (including but not limited to expression of point of information or sarcasm) this can be preserved only through visual archives video archives of complex topics will also help intervening agencies like mdeia, civil society and political parties to demystify the arguments of contradictory views and enhance public understanding thus, a common man would be able to see and hear directly from the horse's mouth beyond the rhetoric of today's hyper media communicationlastly, a visual medium will also help in setting illustrations of exemplary legal conductthis will not only enhance the faith and respect of the common man in the judiciary but also stand as a shining example for the conduct of judges across the country and provide law students and aspirants an in-depth flavour of high standards expected of themhence, this billnew delhi;rajeev satavdecember  4, 2015 financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for establishment of a supreme court secretariat for recording, storing and providing access to judicial proceedings of the supreme court and its benches it also provides for appointment of officers and employees to the secretariat to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of this act clause 5 provides for maintaining website and database for making available the records of judicial proceedings of the supreme court and its benches the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore would be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 10 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for  carrying out the purposes of this act as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative powers is of normal character———— a billto provide for access to judicial proceedings of the supreme court and its benches byprescribing digital recording of all judicial proceedings and making them availableonline to the public in general to foster greater accountability and forthe matters connected therewith————(shri rajeev satav, mp)gmgipmrnd—4164ls(s3)—16022016