The first day of the Supreme Court live-streaming of three Constitution Bench hearings, received overwhelming response and more than seven lakh views.

Court 1, which heard petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the ten per cent quota for economically weaker section (EWS), had nearly 2.5 lakh views.

Court 2, which was hearing cases arising out of the Shiv Sena crisis and the issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Central and Delhi Governments over control of services in the national Capital, was viewed by almost 4 lakh people.

Court 3, which saw hearings on the petitions challenging the validity of the All India Bar Examination, logged a little below one lakh views.

The feed was streamed on the YouTube channel of the National Informatics Centre and was also available on the Apex Court’s website. The SC had last week decided to begin live-streaming of Constitution Bench cases starting September 27.

The decision was taken at a full-court meeting convened by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit last week. The decision was unanimous and the hearings will initially be telecast live on YouTube till the court develops its own platform to host the live telecast of proceedings.

On September 27, 2018, then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had delivered the landmark judgment on the live telecast or webcast of important proceedings in matters of constitutional importance, saying “sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

In a unanimous decision taken at a recent full court meeting headed by the CJI Lalit, the apex court decided to live-stream proceedings of all Constitution bench hearings from September 27, four years after the path-breaking announcement by Justice Misra.

On August 26, for the first time since its inception, the Supreme Court live-streamed proceedings of a bench headed by then Chief Justice (since retired) N V Ramana through a webcast portal. It was a ceremonial proceeding as Justice Ramana was to demit office that day.