Delhi government terms LG's committee on CCTVs 'illegal'

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) The Delhi government on Thursday termed a committee formed by Lt Governor Anil Baijal for installation of CCTVs in the city as "illegal and unconstitutional" and wrote to the LG to urge him to "stay away from the project".

On Tuesday, Baijal had formed the committee to come up with a standard operating procedure for the installation, operation and monitoring of closed-circuit televisions in the city.

Addressing the media here, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the Lt Governor formed the committee without consulting an elected government in Delhi to stop the installation of CCTVs.

"Without talking to the elected government, the LG wants to form SoP. This is to put the project in cold storage so that it was not a success. The committee has been formed as a conspiracy to stop the work (on CCTVs)," Sisodia said.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain wrote a letter to the L-G, terming the panel "illegal and unconstitutional" and urged him to stay away from the project.

"The committee set up by you is illegal and unconstitutional, and has been set up with the sole objective of obstructing the CCTV project. Under the Constitution, the L-G's job is to do good policing and prevent crime. Kindly concentrate on your job. It is the elected government's job to install cameras. Please allow us to do our job," Jain wrote to Baijal.

"The LG has no jurisdiction to set up such a committee. The committee is, therefore, void ab initio. Therefore, I am directing the Home Secretary to not proceed with the same," he added.