A committee set up on the order of Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) for installation of CCTV cameras in Delhi held its first meeting on Friday, after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation termed the panel unconstitutional.
On Tuesday, Raj Niwas had announced that the L-G had ordered the formation of a high-powered committee under the Principal Secretary (Home Department) to come up with an SOP for installation of CCTV cameras.
On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the committee was “unconstitutional” as installing cameras was in the elected government’s jurisdiction.
Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain followed that up with a letter to the L-G on Thursday, saying that the order was “void ab initio” and that he would be instructing the department not to follow through.
‘Report within a month’
However, Principal Secretary (Home) Manoj Kumar Parida chaired the committee’s first meeting at 12 p.m. on Friday, with three Delhi Police officers, the Delhi government’s Principal Secretary (Law Department) and a representative of the Union Information Technology Ministry in attendance as members. He said that the L-G’s order was “valid” and that the committee had held a “preliminary first meeting” to take stock of the situation vis-a-vis the need for cameras and go over the terms of reference of the committee. The committee would submit its report within a month, he added.
Sources said the Home Department received Mr. Jain’s instruction not to follow through with the L-G’s order in the evening, after the committee’s meeting had taken place.
The concern for privacy was among the issues that needed to be addressed before the project was rolled out, said an order by the Home Department. The committee was tasked with formulating an SOP or regulatory framework for installation, operation and monitoring of cameras, norms regarding storage of the cameras’ feed and a mechanism for oversight, among other things, the order stated.
