SRINAGAR, SEP 16: The Jammu and Kashmir government has set the ball rolling for the installation of CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras in all Police Stations and Police Posts across the Union Territory.
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has initiated an exercise to install CCTV cameras in all Police Stations and Police Posts in accordance with Supreme Court directions issued in December 2020, with instructions to the Technical Appraisal Committee (TAC) to make positive recommendations within seven days.
The Technical Appraisal Committee for the project “Installation of CCTV Surveillance in Police Stations/Police Posts across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir” has now been established by the General Administration Department.
The National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), represented by Muhammad Saleem Khan, State Informatics Officer, NIC J&K, Anil Gupta, Director, Centre of IT Enable Services and Management, University of Jammu, and Rajeev Gupta, Technical Officer, Information Technology Department, has been tasked with reviewing the document, having it technically vetted, and making any recommendations that are necessary.
The committee will also, as part of its review of the document, ensure strict adherence to all rules, procedures, and guidelines issued from time to time by the government and provide recommendations/suggestions on the viability of any solutions proposed in the document along with an estimated cost.
The committee has been explicitly instructed to deliver its findings to the indenting department within seven days with notification to the departments of general administration and information technology.
The Technical Appraisal Committee has been constituted in terms of Statutory Order (SO).227 dated July 9, 2021, which read: “Power to accord technical sanction in case of IT related projects has been delegated to the Technical Appraisal Committee to be constituted by the General Administration Department on the recommendations of the IT Department involving financial implication of above Rs 2 crore”.
While addressing the issue of photographing and filming crime scenes in Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 3543, the Supreme Court issued an order dated December 2, 2020, requesting that all States and Union Territories make sure that CCTV cameras are installed in every single Police Station. The then-Government established Union Territory and District Level Committees and even specified their Terms of Reference in accordance with the Apex Court’s instructions. Despite the Committees’ recommendations, there were a number of factors that prevented the exercise from moving further.
