No more videotaping of MERC hearings

Denying allegations that it compromised transparency by stopping video recording of public hearings, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) said, on Monday, that the practice was redundant as everything that happens at hearings is also recorded in written orders.

MERC's legal member and former judge Iqbal Bohari said the commission had followed the rules in taking a unanimous decision of doing away with video recording. He was speaking at an event at Mumbai Press Club on Monday.

"There are rules in criminal and civil matters on destroying documents after a certain time. The documents are classified under various categories and some have to be preserved permanently. The footage we have in storage is of no use and hence we have decided to destroy it. In addition, we also decided to stop recording of events such as public hearings because we have enough stenographers," said Bohari.

He said most of the footage in store had lost its life and couldn't be played anymore. "To continue video recording would mean incurring costs that cannot be justified," he said.

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