Justice to make debut on TV

Weekly adalat

The first episode of the programme addressed by Chief Justice S R Bannurmath and Justice Kurian Joseph was shot on the high court premises in Kochi on Friday and it will be telecast by Asianet News on Sunday. ``We received some 10,000 calls but could put through only 100 of them to the judges,’’ a spokesman for the premier Malayalam TV channel said.

Perhaps this will be for the first time in the country that judges will be redressing grievances through the medium of television.

“We are thankful (to the channel) for accepting our request to allot some space,’’ says Justice Bannurmath in the promo of the program titled ‘Adalat’.

“You can ask any question related to the legal services. We will suggest whatever solutions possible for your problems at our level,” says Justice Kurian Joseph, the fellow guest of the show.

The channel spokesman said that the judges had agreed to spare 45 minutes a week to answer queries from the viewers. ``However, the first shoot exceeded two hours,’’ he said.

The show will be recorded on Fridays keeping in view the interests of callers from the Gulf countries where Friday is a public holiday. It will be telecast during prime time (7.30 pm) on Sunday. Asianet expects the program to become a big hit and some sponsors are already keen to exploit its commercial potential.

The Asianet group owned by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar had come up with a similar program a decade ago when the late chief minister E K Nayanar appeared on the channel to take calls from viewers.