CHENNAI: Pulling up the Tamil Nadu government for withdrawing the security provided to retired IAS officer U Sagayam, who probed the illegal granite mining scam, the Madras High Court on Monday observed that revoking the protection for special officers violates the court’s orders.
"We had made it clear in our order dated March 16, 2018 that no person, who is involved in carrying out the duties assigned by the court should be victimised or threatened, in any manner, and this is sovereign duty of the State to effect necessary protection to those concerned, who have discharged duty in accordance with law," a special bench, comprising Justices T S Sivagnanam and G Jayachandran, observed.
The bench directed the state to maintain the status quo of the protection provided to Sagayam and other officers as on March 16, 2018, till further orders.
The issue relates to a PIL moved by Traffic KR Ramaswamy in 2014 that the state had incurred a heavy loss due to the irregularities in granting mining leases.
During the hearing, the state also submitted that several districts had already begun to take measures in installing cameras in district borders as well as in the state.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan also said that some of the districts have approached ELCOT for assistance in setting up the cameras and sought at least two months for compliance.
The bench, during the hearing, also raised queries on the data collected to be shared within the department. "It is the revenue department that seizes the granites and takes action, however, based on the report submitted it appears the police department has the maximum number of cameras set up across the state,” said the bench.
The special bench refused to grant the time sought, and directed the state’s chief secretary to complete the installation expeditiously and file a status report on December 11.