The Karnataka High Court has held that as per the State Rules on Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, 2021, a litigant cannot seek copies of the recording of the Court proceedings unless the same is specifically ordered by the Court.

The High Court was considering a petition challenging the dismissal of an application seeking copies of the audio-visual recordings of the Court proceedings pertaining to a Writ Appeal.

The Single Bench of Justice C.M. Poonacha held, “It is clear from combined reading of Rule 8 and Rule 10 of the Rules, that the same do not in any manner provide a right to the petitioner to seek for copies of the said recording unless the same is specifically ordered by the Court. In the absence of any right vested with the petitioner, the question of the petitioner assailing the rejection of his request for copies does not arise.”

Advocate Girish Hegde represented the Petitioner.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the Respondent-Assistant Registrar (Information Technology) of the Court rejected the application of the petitioner placing reliance on Rule 10(1)(ii) of the Karnataka Rules On Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, 2021. This rule stipulates that the archival data proceedings as contemplated under Sub-rule 4 of Rule 8 of the Rules should not constitute the official record of the Court proceeding unless directed by the Bench.

“It is further pertinent to note that Rule 10(2) of the Rules stipulates the prohibition and restrictions on usage of the recordings or live streaming”, it added.

Thus, holding that the petitioner did not have the right to seek such recording unless the same was ordered by the Court, the Bench dismissed the Petition.

Cause Title: A. Sathyanarayana Swamy v. The High Court of Karnataka (Neutral Citation: 2026:KHC:51810)

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Karnataka High CourtJustice C.M. Poonacha

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.