Ranchi, Sep 1 (IANS) The Jharkhand High Court has expressed strong displeasure over the state government’s failure to comply with its directions to install CCTV cameras in all police stations across the state.
Observing that there has been little progress despite repeated judicial orders, the court on Tuesday remarked that prima facie it appears that police authorities are more interested in ensuring that CCTV cameras are not installed in police stations.
Taking a serious view of the matter, it issued a show-cause notice to Director General of Police (DGP) Tadasha Mishra, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against her for non-compliance with the court’s orders.
A division bench of Chief Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar noted that despite its order dated June 18 and several earlier directions issued by different benches, effective steps have not been taken to install CCTV cameras in police stations across Jharkhand.
It observed that the state government had cited a number of reasons for the delay, including the issuance and subsequent cancellation of tenders. However, it said these explanations were not satisfactory at first glance.
The High Court emphasised that repeated failure to comply with judicial directions is a matter of grave concern. It recalled that on June 18, it had considered issuing a contempt notice to the DGP. At that stage, however, the court had granted the state government one final opportunity to implement its orders.
The court had also directed the Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary to apprise the DGP of the seriousness of the matter and ensure compliance.
Despite those directions, the court found that no meaningful progress had been made towards installing CCTV cameras in any police station in the state.
Expressing its dissatisfaction over the continued non-compliance, the bench sought an explanation from the DGP and asked why contempt action should not be initiated against her for failing to ensure implementation of the court’s orders.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on September 24.
–IANS
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