Bombay High Court asks CCTV installation contractors in Maha to appear in court

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed two private contractors selected by the Maharashtra government to install CCTV cameras in police stations across the state to appear before the HC on Friday to explain the delay in the installation workThe HC said the two contractors based in Pune and Bengaluru had received Rs 23 crore out of the total Rs 60 crore allocated for the installation of the CCTVs hence they can afford to come to MumbaiA bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav noted that while the installation of CCTV cameras was to be completed within 22 weeks from the date of their contract finalised in August last year the two contractors had completed installation of only half of the targeted number of cameras and sought an additional 16 weeks to complete the workOn February 16 this year the Maharashtra government had informed the HC that the two contractors Sujata Computers Pvt Ltd Pune and Javi Systems India Pvt Ltd Bengaluru were selected to implement the installation project which included maintenance of all the CCTVs and instruments for five years with effect from August 6 2021There are 1089 police stations in the state and so far 6092 cameras have been installed in 547 police stations the government saidOf these 5639 cameras were functional and 453 were nonfunctional the affidavit said adding that the contractors have been directed to rectify the issue within a monthThe wiring and cabling work in the remaining 542 police stations was completed the affidavit saidThe state had also told the court that it had allocated Rs 60 crore to install CCTV cameras in police stations across the state and out of this amount the two contractors had already received Rs 23 croreOn Monday Rohan Cama the amicus curaie appointed by the court to assist it in the matter informed the bench that since February 16 more CCTVs had stopped functioning and the total number of nonfunctional cameras now stands at 711While the states counsel Shruti Vyas told the HC that authorities had issued orders for repair of such cameras the court asked Then why havent the repairs been carried outThe contractors are from Pune and Bengaluru Let them come to court on the next date Ask both of them to come Let us interact with them directly the HC saidThey can afford to come to Bombay They have received Rs 23 crore out of the total Rs 60 crore One trip to Bombay is not difficult for them the court saidThe state government also informed the HC on Monday that one of the reasons for the delay was that the contractors were importing highquality camerasTo this the HC asked Imported What are theyChinese India doesnt have highquality CCTV camerasThe whole idea of the courts intervention in the matter is to implement the SC order on the issue in its entirety the HC saidThe court will hear the matter further on FridayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever