The front elevation of the 4,10,514 square foot main building of the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai was designed over a decade ago to resemble a fort and on Monday, exactly 20 days before it could complete 12 years of its inauguration, the building turned into a fortress literally with the introduction of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cover.
Justice Nooty Ramamohana Rao, the administrative judge of the Bench, inaugurated the new security arrangements after accepting a guard of honour accorded to him by CISF personnel.
He declared open a massive gate installed before the main building housing 12 court halls spread over 1,63,708 square foot and an administrative block on 2,46,805 square foot to cut free access to an existing road around the building. A new road laid for accessing other places such as chambers for lawyers and law officers on the 107-acre court campus was also opened by him.
The Public Works Department had spent Rs.43 lakh for installing the gate, laying the new road and providing other infrastructural facilities for the CISF cover to the High Court Bench. Another Rs. 88 lakh was being spent for constructing two concrete structures, under construction, flanking the main building for installing baggage scanners and other gadgets.
10 counters
Justice Rao also inaugurated 10 counters for issuing entry passes to litigants, policemen, government officials and law students wanting to enter the main building. Later, other judges joined him in planting saplings on the court campus to compensate the loss of trees felled last month for construction of the two concrete structures for the use of CISF personnel.
The counters had been established inside an existing building meant to be used as a public canteen. The building was lying idle ever since an hotelier vacated it two years ago. Within minutes after the inauguration, serpentine queues were formed outside the counters to get visitor passes on production of photo identity cards and explaining the reason for the visit. High Court officials said that about 40 court staff would be deputed on rotation basis to issue the entry passes. Special software had been developed to record the details of the visitors and also store their photographs.
Firemen stationed in a makeshift fire station rued that they had been suffering for years together without a proper building to store their equipment and other belongings while the PWD had spent Rs.1.31 crore to create the infrastructure required for the CISF personnel.
“Our services are also as essential as that of the CISF. We are an indispensable part of any establishment as huge as the High Court because we save properties worth crores of rupees from the ravages of fire that could not be predicted. Yet, we have been accorded a step motherly treatment in the High Court Bench,” a fireman bemoaned.
A section of advocates felt that the new security measures such as frisking lawyers was unnecessary.
