Maha govt hasn't done anything to put up CCTVs in police stations: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Maharashtra government has not done anything substantial with regard to the installation of CCTVs in police stations across the stateA division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and M N Jadhav said in the past whenever the court asked for CCTV footage in any case the police refused with one excuse or the otherLet us be candid and say that this is all done intentionally Justice Kathawalla saidThe HC said that the Supreme Court had in December 2020 passed an order directing all states to install CCTVs in police stationsNothing substantial has been done in Maharashtra in the past two years Has anyone even bothered to read the Supreme Court order You state government have to comply with the SC order the high court saidThe whole purpose of the Supreme Court order was to ensure transparency and hence only paper compliance would not suffice the HC saidYou Maharashtra government need to set up a committee to look into all this otherwise no one would be bothered the court saidAdvocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni appearing for the state government told the court that work is being carried out by two contractors to install CCTVs in police stations and to repair the ones which are currently nonfunctionalAs per an affidavit submitted by the government in the court on Monday there are 1089 police stations in the state So far 6092 CCTVs have been installed in 547 police stations Out of these cameras 5639 are functional while the remaining are nonfunctionalKumbhakoni said the contractors have been asked to repair all the nonfunctional CCTVs in 15 daysThe bench then said steps are being by taken only after orders are passed and till then nothing is doneThe HC also said that as per the apex court order the CCTVs have to be placed at all the entry and exit points inside lockups in the rooms of the inspector subinspectors and other placesKumbhakoni said this was most probably being complied withThe court also sought to know from the government as to why the tender to install CCTVs in the police stations was awarded only to two contractorsWhy cant you government have more than two contractors for the job Would these two contractors be able to do such a major job Are they equipped the HC askedKumbhakoni informed the bench that an agreement was made with the two contractors in November 2020 to install the CCTVs within a period of 22 weeks and thereafter maintain the same for five yearsThe work of wiring is complete in all police stations However due to the COVID19 pandemic and nonavailability of some hardware parts further work could not be done Hence payment was withheld and was made in January 2022 when the work resumed Kumbhakoni saidThe HC posted the matter for further hearing on March 2 and asked the government to submit to it documents related to the tender awarded and also the work experience of the two contractorsThis 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