CAMERA HEARINGS

A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of CCTV cameras installed in public-aided schools in Delhi and deletion of the video live streamed which is available to the public. The plea is based on Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees individual privacy as a fundamental right

- Adarsh Kumar

THE Delhi High Court sought a response from the Delhi government on a plea seeking quashing of the Delhi cabinet's decision for installation of Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) inside classrooms of all public-aided schools in the national capital and consequent live streaming of video footage to the public at large. The division bench, comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, gave notice to the Delhi government and the private company which has been awarded the tender for the installation work.

The petition was filed by Advocates Jai Anant Dehadrai, Sidharth Arora, Jaskaran Singh Chawla, and Soujanya Ketharaj on behalf of the Delhi Parents Association and Delhi Government School Teachers Association. It alleged that the impugned decision is in violation of the order of the apex court in KS Puttaswamy, which guarantees individual privacy as a fundamental right enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Delhi government had in September 2017 convened a meeting wherein the decision for mandatory installation of CCTV cameras in the classrooms of government schools was taken. Another meeting of the Delhi government was convened in December 2017, where it was resolved that the parents of children studying in public-aided schools would be provided with online access to the CCTV feed. Subsequently, tenders were floated requesting proposal for supply, installation, and commissioning of CCTV system in Delhi government schools, and in November 2019, the heads of all public-aided schools in Delhi were directed to allow and permit the private company who was awarded the tender, to carry out the installation of CCTV cameras in school premises.