Proximity Cards throw SC out of gear

Life in the Supreme Court was thrown out of gear this morning. Lawyers without the ‘Proximity Cards’ had to queue up outside the Court to obtain day passes to enter the premises. The Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan inaugurated the new security systems and processes yesterday despite lawyers’ protests..After the lawyers of the Advocates Association of Bangalore, it was time for Supreme Court Bar Association to go on strike yesterday, however, for a different cause. After the Chief Justice of India introduced Supreme Court premises as the new “high security zone”, lawyers went on strike blocking the gates of the Supreme Court in protest and shouted “CJI go back, CJI go back. We are lawyers, we cannot be treated like this”..After intelligence reports of militant threats to the Supreme Court, new security measures, including installing a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) for 24-hour surveillance have been taken. Entry into the Supreme Court is restricted, allowed only to those producing ‘Photo Proximity Cards’, which are issued to lawyers, their assistants, journalists and clients..This morning, lawyers without the Proximity Card were required to queue up to procure passes to enter the Supreme Court premises. Sources inform that with several lawyers queuing outside the premises to procure a daily pass were unable to attend their matters throwing the schedule out of gear. Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President, M.N. Krishnamani, speaking to Bar & Bench clarified, “We are not against issue of proximity cards. There are practical problems and Supreme Court is not equipped to handle these issues. There are advocates from 32 States and Union Territories who come to the Apex Court. Most of them come in the morning flight and go back in the evening. If you expect them to wait in line for 2 hours to procure entry pass and then enter the SC premises, it will not be possible”..“Currently there are 8,400 members are the SCBA, of whom only 4,000 have been issued proximity cards. Others have applied, and there is a long process to procure these cards. Should the rest of the advocates wait in line for the passes every day? Monday and Friday will be especially hard, considering it is Miscellaneous Petition day” he said. He feels that the SC needs better equipment that will detect explosives and arms and the solution does not lie with issuing proximity cards. “Anyone can misuse these cards,” he said..He also told Bar & Bench that he will be mentioning this issue before open Court today and will ask the CJI to decide the further course of action in view of these concerns expressed by the advocates. With Supreme Court Room 1 hearing the Reliance matter, will see some more action with many advocates protesting the new security measure..Bharadwaj Iyengar, a lawyer practicing at the Supreme Court feels that the system while necessary, needs rationalization. “Right now there is only one level of security check, only at the main entrance. Whilst, steps are necessary to improve the security at the Court, a proximity card may not be the answer. These are several practical and reliability issues relating to the proximity card. There are several lawyers from other states who routinely appear in the Supreme Court. This is definitely an inconvenience to them. Unless you make provision for accommodating them, the security system is more of an inconvenience, than anything else,” he added..After Mumbai attacks, Government has increased it’s expenditure on technology to curb attacks. Zicom Limited, a company dealing in electronic surveillance systems recently bagged a tender to install the CCTV cameras and other security systems in the Supreme Court premises. They have, with Government of Israel run anti-terror academy, The IMI academy, set up an “Institute of Advanced Security Training and Management Private Ltd”. Ujjwal Nikam, Public Prosecutor in the Kasab trial and several other leading criminal litigations launched their inaugural seminar on ‘Risk Analysis and Security Management-A System Approach’.