HC asks CS to decide plea alleging CCTVs installed only in areas of AAP leaders

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretary to decide a BJP MLA’s representation alleging that CCTV cameras were being installed by the AAP government only in areas where leaders of the ruling party were elected from.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said the legislator’s petition filed before the court be treated as a representation by the Delhi chief secretary. It asked the senior official to decide the representation within two weeks while disposing of the plea.

Petitioner Abhay Verma, BJP MLA from Laxmi Nagar constituency in East Delhi, said former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, in his budget speech 2020-21, had granted sanctioned installation of CCTV cameras. The Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) minister was given the power of approving the installation of the CCTV cameras.

The plea claimed misuse of power by Delhi’s PWD, which installed CCTV cameras only in areas with ruling party leaders. During the hearing, Delhi government counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi argued the installation was based on a survey and was non-discriminatory.