For the first time, the hearings in the collector's court in Chhattisgarh's tribal-dominated Surguja district were live-streamed to ensure transparency and access to proceedings to people living in remote areas, officials said on Friday.
Collectors' courts mainly deal with cases related to land and revenue departments. The initiative, which kicked off on Thursday, was taken up by newly appointed Surguja collector Vilas Bhoskar Sandeepan, they said.
Surguja, located around 300 km from the capital Raipur in north Chhattisgarh, has become the first district in the state to live-stream proceedings of the collector's court, officials said. The collector is also the district magistrate.
Talking to PTI, Sandeepan said, "The link to watch the proceedings live will be available on the district administration's website, and it can also be watched on the administration's YouTube channel. The initiative started on Thursday and will continue."
The collector's court convenes on Thursdays and around 50 to 60 cases come up for hearing in a day, he said. Asked about the idea behind the initiative, the collector said, "I was posted in the tribal-dominated district in January this year. Several people come to me with grievances such as they were not made a party in the case, they were unaware about the hearings and their lawyer did not argue properly in their favour."
People serving in the paramilitary forces and Army could not attend hearings, while some people had handed over the power of attorney of their cases to others citing health reasons but wanted to know details of the hearings, he said.
Tribals living in remote areas also can't attend every hearing, the collector said. Considering these issues, the decision was taken to live-stream proceedings to ensure transparency and access to people, he said.
The move will also help people understand the legal process and witness how lawyers argue cases, he said. Asked if a similar exercise would be replicated in the lower courts in the collectorate office, Sandeepan said the option could be explored in the future.
(With inputs from PTI)
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