Chennai: The Assembly witnessed a heated debate after Gudalur MLA Dravidamani and Egmore MLA Ravichandran demanded the state to intervene in the ongoing strike by advocates and said the standoff between the Tamil Nadu Bar and the Bench was affecting the judiciary system.
Responding to opposition MLAs, Minister for law, courts and prisons C.V. Shanmugham said the State was doing its best to ensure the smooth functioning of courts and pointed out there was no law and order problem in the state.
When DMK’s P.K. Sekar Babu stood to make a point and passed comments against the minister, the Minister shot back, “Remember, a sitting judge of Madras high court was beaten up during your regime in HC campus. This invited another round of heated arguments.
On the issue of providing security to high court, Shanmugam said CISF cover had been provided to the high court as well as its Madurai bench in compliance with a Supreme Court order. Over 50 courts have been equipped with CCTV cameras at an estimated cost of Rs seven crore, including the ones at Saidapet and high court, he said.
Insisting that law and order is being properly maintained, he said during the recent State-level advocate’s protest last month near the high court, there was no untoward incident, unlike in the past when DMK ruled the state. The high court and lower courts are functioning as usual without any hindrance, the minister said.
Dravidamani urged the government to intervene in the issue to find an amicable solution, Shanmugam replied that the high court had constituted a committee, where lawyers could air their grievances on the new disciplinary rules. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled this month.
When a few other DMK MLAs made comments dragging the recent HC observations, the minister pointed out that the issues were related to the court and there should be no politics over it. He emphasised he and his party would not tolerate any more unnecessary political remarks.
