White cctv outside the building, security system with vintage color tone
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The Madras High Court has granted four weeks’ time to the Tamil Nadu government to take a call on sanctioning ₹20.04 crore required for installing CCTV cameras and display monitors in 179 court complexes across the State.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy accepted a request by Advocate General P.S. Raman to grant him time to advice the government on the necessity to tighten security in all court complexes.
The request was made during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP), seeking protection for lawyers in the wake of multiple incidents related to violent attacks against some advocates in the State.
The High Court’s Registrar (Administration) B. Hari filed a status report before the Division Bench stating that the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) had estimated 7,774 CCTV cameras would be required to cover all 179 court complexes.
It had been estimated the cameras alone would cost ₹17.86 crore apart from another ₹2.18 crore required for the purchase of display monitors. The total estimate of ₹20.04 crore was arrived at after conducting a survey of the court complexes through two of ELCOT’s sub vendors.
The High Court Registry had addressed a letter to the Government of Tamil Nadu on December 2, 2024, seeking the sanction of ₹20.04 crore for procuring the CCTV cameras and the display monitors, and the request is still pending with the government, the Registrar said.
On his part, senior counsel S. Prabakaran, representing BCTNP, told the court the A-G and State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah had facilitated two meetings between the Bar leaders and the Home Secretary as well as the Director General of Police.
The meetings were facilitated pursuant to the directions issued by the Division Bench last year and since then, things had begun moving in the right direction, the senior counsel said and insisted that the State government should now sanction the funds at the earliest.
After recording his submissions, the judges adjourned the PIL petition for further hearing to February 27.
Published – January 28, 2025 01:17 pm IST