No Need Of Larger Courtroom To Hear Pleas Challenging Article 370 Abrogation: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that there is no need of larger courtroom to hear the pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Supreme Court's lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma, who is one of the petitioners in the case, requested the Constitution bench that this hearing should be conducted in a larger courtroom and live telecast be allowed to allow people to witness its proceedings.

The apex court, however, refused his plea and said, "There is no need of larger courtroom for the hearing."
On December 5, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear an application seeking the live streaming, recording or transcription of proceedings on a batch of pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370.

The application was filed through advocate Virag Gupta.

"The matters relating to Article 370 are very important and are covered widely by the Indian as well as the international media. In absence of accurate information being officially released by this court, the proceedings may be susceptible to misreporting," Gupta had said.

In his application, former RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya had said that the apex court failed to implement its own September 2018 judgment for live-streamingIn the 21st century Digital India, it's unimaginable that the highest court of the land is not recording its proceedings, the application stated.

In August, the central government had announced its decision to scrap Article 370 and bifurcate the erstwhile state into two Union Territories (UTs) -- Jammu and Kashmir with legislature and Ladakh without one. 

(ANI)