The Madras High Court administration too has begun to take preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19 by dispensing with the biometric attendance system for its staff until the disease is contained.
Beginning Thursday, the court administration has permitted all its employees to flash their identity cards on the machines which record their attendance instead of placing their forefinger on a scanner attached to the machines, to register their presence, date and time when they report for duty.
A text message sent to the employees on their mobile phones on Wednesday read: “As a preventive measure of coronavirus disease, now you can punch your daily attendance through your original identity card in all biometric devices. Any difficulties in the ID card access shall be intimated to computer server room - High Court of Madras.”
A court official said, the machines placed at vantage points at various entry points to the sprawling court campus were capable of recording both biometric data as well as micro chip enabled ID card data. However, ever since their establishment, the employees had been instructed to follow only biometric system.
“Flashing of identity cards was not allowed so far to make sure that the employee concerned is physically present in the court at the time of registering his attendance and does not end up misusing his/her identity card through others. But coronavirus has changed everything and forced us to dispense with the practice,” he said.
An officer added that the relaxation given to the employees was only a temporary measure until the spread of the disease was contained and that the biometric system would be brought back once again.
