Madras high court to get CISF protection after October 30

CHENNAI: An ‘inner circle’ of the Madras high court campuses in Chennai and Madurai will come under Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) protection soon after October 30, the first bench of the court said.
Directing the state and central governments to jointly formulate a security protocol by October 30, the bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam said, it may be appropriate to have an inner circle of security manned by the independent force to check the entry and exit points at least for a period of six months.
Bifurcation of security duty by handing over ‘inner circle’ security and access control to the CISF or a similar agency, while retaining peripheral security duty with state police, seems to be the higher judiciary’s answer to insulate itself from internal and external disturbances.
“We are of unequivocal view that a role has to be performed by an independent security force, while not removing the state police altogether from the picture,” they said. “The working of courts is not akin to maintaining law and order in a city at large, as the temple of justice requires the right environment where people work in tandem,” the judges reasoned.
A string of unruly incidents by lawyers and an evident lack of faith in the state police by lawyers, resulting in security breaches and slow action, since 2009 weighed heavily on the judges, who said bringing the high court campuses under security cover of CISF was an “immediate necessity”.
Commending Madras High Court Advocates Association president R C Paul Kanagaraj and advocate-general A L Somayaji for their assurances to the court that every endeavour will be made to improve mutual faith between police and lawyers, the judges said, “What we face today is [the consequence] of lack of faith between police and lawyers, and it is not a reflection on the general ability of the police to manage the situation.”
As for resistance from the legal fraternity, the bench said, “We are conscious of the fact that lawyers spend a large part of their time in the court and treat their workplace as their second home. That may... be the reason that any endeavour to check their entry is sometimes perceived as obstructive.”