Saket tables bill to record judges’ oral observations in every court
Times of India | 9 December 2025
Kolkata: Days after a Calcutta HC division bench struck down a May 2023 order by former Justice Abhijit Ganguly that scrapped 32,000 primary teachers' jobs, Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale, on Dec 5, moved a private member's bill calling for the recording of "verbatim transcripts of all oral proceedings and observations in every court."
The HC division bench, while striking down Ganguly's order, cautioned courts against "innovating at pleasure". "Neither can they don the helmet of a knight-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness," the bench said.
Trinamool linked the court's observations with Ganguly's "uncalled-for-fusillade" as a judge against the party and its seniors. The party said Ganguly's comments at the time were a bid to create ground for his eventual plunge to BJP, which he did ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after taking a pre-term retirement.
Gokhale, who tabled the bill in the Rajya Sabha, argued: "Today, across courts at all levels we have judges making oral observations. These oral observations don't go on record. In an appeal, a party can only challenge the written judgment. Documenting proceedings/observations not only strengthens grounds for appeal but can also provide a complete view of the case and how a judgment was arrived at. We need more transparency in our legal institutions."
The bill, titled The Records of Court Proceedings Bill, 2025, points out that as per the Public Records Act, 1993, both legislature and executive have to record all proceedings, and that "verbatim proceedings of Parliament and all state legislatures are recorded under the relevant rules of that legislative bodies."
The bill proposes "every court shall maintain a transcript of all court proceedings" and every court shall upload the transcript of the daily proceedings on the court's website within 24 hours of the day's proceedings.