Tamil Nadu government will procure 60 Apple iPad Pro units with cover and stylus at a cost of ₹80.93 lakh to judges of the Madras High Court, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam announced in the Assembly on Friday. These will be for use by judges at the principal Bench in Chennai and the Madurai Bench.
The government will take up conservation and restoration of heritage buildings at the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court at Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district and District Munsif Court in Coimbatore, at a cost of ₹ 10 crore, Mr. Shanmugam said.
The Minister announced that the government would provide young lawyers a monthly stipend of ₹3,000 for two years.
Additional district courts would be constituted at Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, Harur in Dharmapuri district and Arakkonam in Ranipet district; additional sub courts will be set up at Thirukoilur in Kallakurichi district, Nilakottai in Dindigul district, Keeranur in Pudukottai district and Tiruvottiyur in Tiruvallur district, he said.
Mr. Shanmugam said the government would upgrade the existing sub jail in Tiruvallur into a district jail. An additional block for 100 prisoners at the district jail in Chengalpet would be constructed, library facilities would be upgraded in all Central prisons and special prisons for women, jailor quarters would be built in Central prisons in Madurai and Palayamkottai, 50 body worn cameras would be procured for prison officials to monitor the movement of prisoners and to prevent any untoward incidents, he said.
Tamil in court
The State government has been taking steps to urge the Centre to make Tamil the official language in Madras High Court, even though the plea was rejected twice by the Supreme Court, Mr. Shanmugam said.
In his reply to P. Sivakumar alias Thayagam Kavi (DMK), who raised the issue in the House, Mr. Shanmugam said the Chief Minister had written to the Centre on March 3 in this regard.
Countering Mr. Sivakumar’s question on the delay in adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras High Court, Mr. Shanmugam questioned why the DMK was unable to ensure this when in power between 2006 and 2011, although it was a partner in the coalition government at the Centre then. The plea for adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras High Court was rejected twice in 2012 and 2015, he said.
S. Semmalai (AIADMK) urged the State government to take action on adopting Tamil as official language in the High Court. “When the courts in four States can have Hindi as official language in respective States, why not Tamil,” he asked.
