Tihar Jail Security: Supreme Court Calls For Joint Meeting Between Centre & Delhi Govts To Avoid 'Passing The Buck'

The Court had in August last year pulled up the Tihar Jail authorities for acting in connivance with the Chandra brothers in engaging in illegal activities by flouting the jail manual, dissipating proceedings, derailing investigation etc., in the Unitech money laundering case. The court had directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to personally carry out an inquiry into the same and submit a report within 4 weeks.

The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and M. R. Shah also directed that a joint affidavit prepared by the three officers named above shall be submitted before the court containing the decisions taken, timelines for implementation and steps to be taken in that regard.

On Thursday, the bench recorded that an affidavit of compliance has been filed on behalf of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs purporting to set out the steps which have been taken to comply with the report which has been submitted by the Commissioner of Police, Delhi for upgrading the security at Tihar Jail in order to obviate incidents such as the one which has been noticed by the court in the present case.

"The affidavit filed by MHA basically relies on the contents of the Model Prison Manual. The MHA has stated that the recommendations which have been made in the report submitted by the CP are worthy of acceptance and should be implemented. The issue is how they should be implemented and whether any steps have been taken in that regard. Prima facie, it appears that adequate steps are yet to be taken to implement the recommendations of the CP despite the previous directions of this court", observed the bench.

The bench proceeded to note in its order that as an instance, three specific areas (so far as the recommendations of the CP, Delhi in his report are concerned) can be adverted to:

1. Installation of cell phone jammers: In paragraph 38.21 of the response which has been provided by the DG (prisons), it has been stated that a committee of experts comprising of the Secretary, Security, Cabinet Secretariat recommended a dominant Tower technology to be used to block mobile signals inside jail complexes. On an experimental basis, the technology was put to use in Mandoli jail complex in January 2020. And three dominant towers have been erected in the Tihar complex in November 2021. It has been stated that the results of these towers have been good but regular monitoring is required by the telecom service providers. The Department of telecommunications has proposed a draft SOP which is at the consideration of the Secretary, Security.

2. Full body x-ray scanners: DG (prisons) is stated to be in the process of purchasing 2 x-ray-based full body scanners and an NOC has been obtained from the AERB.

3. Installation of CCTV cameras: On this aspect, it has been stated that 7000 CCTV cameras have been installed in 16 jails, recording 30 days' movements.

"There are two central control rooms- one at Tihar prison headquarters and the other at Mandoli headquarters. The MHA in its affidavit has stated that prison is a state subject and hence necessary directions have been issued to the Delhi Government to ensure compliance. ASG Madhvi Diwan has navigated the court through the contents of the affidavit and has submitted that it is now for the Delhi Government to take necessary steps. From the submissions which have been urged before the court, it emerges that the DG prisons is an official sent on deputation from the Delhi police. The superintendents of police are, generally speaking, officers drawn from the DANIPS services. ASG K. M. Natraj, for the Delhi police, stated that though DG prisons is an officer on deputation from the Delhi police, ultimately all decisions have to be taken by the Delhi Government. The counsel for the Delhi government is absent during the course of the hearing", recorded the bench.

The Court proceeded to assert, "In this backdrop, we are of the view that the passing of buck between the authorities at the Centre namely MHA, at the level of the DG (Prisons) and the Delhi government must be dealt with by effective coordination and expeditious decision-making. The report of the CP will gather dust unless effective steps are taken to implement it"

"We accordingly direct that within a period of one week from today, a meeting shall be held between the three bodies: of an officer at the level of secretary in the MHA; the DG (prisons) at Tihar Jail; the Chief Secretary, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The meeting to be held within a period of one week shall take concrete decisions towards implementing the report of the CP, Delhi and file a comprehensive affidavit indicating the manner in which implementation would be carried out, and the timelines stipulated and the steps to be taken. Once the commitment is made to the court, we will expect that it shall be observed scrupulously. The Commissioner of Police, Delhi shall attend the meeting as an invitee since the recommendations that are contained in his report are to be duly implemented. A joint affidavit prepared by the three officers named above shall be submitted before this court containing the decisions taken, timelines for implementation and steps to be taken in that regard. List after three weeks", ordered the bench.

Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Diwan told the bench on Thursday that the report of the Commissioner of Delhi police and the recommendations therein were considered by the MHA and the following steps were taken: Vide the letter dated 30 November 2021, MHA directed the chief secretary of government of Delhi to take necessary action on the recommendations of the report of the Commissioner of Police Delhi. The joint secretary, union territories held a meeting on 3.12.2021 to discuss the recommendations of the Commissioner of Delhi police as contained in paragraph 38 of the report. The meeting was attended by all concerned stakeholders- DG prisons; DCP crime of Delhi Police; Special Secretary, home, the government of NCT Delhi, representatives of the MHA. Further, a copy of the relevant portion of the commissioner's report was also forwarded to the chief secretary, government of NCT of Delhi for taking appropriate action of the recommendations.

She took the bench through the contents of the model prisons manual.

Justice Shah added, "We are not interested in exchanges, paperwork etc. We want the actual concrete work to be done so that such an incident cannot happen again"

Ms. Diwan replied, "We have made a budgetary allocation of a very large sum of Rs. 950 crores...Let the Delhi police say if they have taken that action"

The bench then passed the aforesaid order.