HC advocates against restrictions on media coverage of open

Advocates of Kerala High Court today said they were not in favour of imposition of restrictions on media personnel covering open court proceedings.
In an extraordinary general body meeting held here, Kerala High Court Advocates Association was of the view that there was no need to restrict media in reporting open court proceedings in an honest and factual manner.
The general body was convened by association president, S P Chali to formulate its stand in the matter in the wake of a PIL filed in the high court seeking to impose restrictions on media in publishing open court proceedings.
The association unanimously opined that to maintain transparency in court proceedings, the open court discussions also can be published without distortions.

Its stand will be informed to the high court during the consideration of the PIL, association sources said.
Earlier, Advocate-General K P Dandapani had favoured imposing restrictions on the media from reporting the open court proceedings and the opinion expressed by the judges while hearing cases.

The AG had made the submission following the court directive to express his views on regulating reporting of open court proceedings by the media.
A Division Bench comprising justices K T Sankaran and P D Rajan had initiated proceedings in this regard after observing that the reports by a section of media on the basis of court's observations on the medical admission to the self-financing colleges case were not true.

The Bar Council of Kerala had also submitted that reporting of open court observations should be restricted.