SC accreditation rules cited

CHANDIGARH: Emphasizing that a more prudent coverage of the court proceedings was the need of the hour, justices Uma Nath Singh and AN Jindal have directed the high court registrar-general to collect information from the apex court and place it before the chief justice for consideration as to whether the SC���s procedure to register and accredit legal correspondents for court reporting could be followed in Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The judges have also ordered that the copy of the order be placed before the registrar of newspapers and chairman, Press Council of India, for issuing necessary instructions and guidelines to be followed in ������reporting the court proceedings in various newspapers������.
The Supreme Court accreditation rules for legal correspondents mandate that apart from requirements relating to experience, a reporter who desires to cover the apex court proceedings must have a law degree recognized by the Bar Council of India under the Advocates Act. Once the apex court grants regular accreditation on the prescribed application, the legal correspondent is issued an identity card which is valid for one year and has to be renewed annually.