High Court judges will be given Apple iPad Pro, says Minister

Tamil Nadu govt will procure 60 Apple iPad Pro units with cover & stylus at a cost of 80.93 lakh to judges of the Madras HC, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam announced in the Assembly on Friday. These will be for use by judges at the principal Bench in Chennai & the Madurai Bench.

The govt will take up conservation & restoration of heritage buildings at the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court at Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district & District Munsif Court in Coimbatore, at a cost of 10 crore, Mr. Shanmugam said.

The Minister announced that the govt would provide young lawyers a monthly stipend of 3,000 for two years.

Additional district courts would be constituted at Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, Harur in Dharmapuri district & Arakkonam in Ranipet district; additional sub courts will be set up at Thirukoilur in Kallakurichi district, Nilakottai in Dindigul district, Keeranur in Pudukottai district & Tiruvottiyur in Tiruvallur district, he said.

Mr. Shanmugam said the govt would upgrade the existing sub jail in Tiruvallur into a district jail. An additional block for 100 prisoners at the district jail in Chengalpet would be constructed, library facilities would be upgraded in all Central prisons & special prisons for women, jailor quarters would be built in Central prisons in Madurai & Palayamkottai, 50 body worn cameras would be procured for prison officials to monitor the movement of prisoners & to prevent any untoward incidents, he said.

Tamil in court
The State govt has been taking steps to urge the Centre to make Tamil the official language in Madras HC, even though the plea was rejected twice by the Supreme Court, Mr. Shanmugam said.

In his reply to P. Sivakumar alias Thayagam Kavi (DMK), who raised the issue in the House, Mr. Shanmugam said the Chief Minister had written to the Centre on Mar 3 in this regard.

Countering Mr. Sivakumar’s question on the delay in adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras HC, Mr. Shanmugam questioned why the DMK was unable to ensure this when in power between 2006 & 2011, although it was a partner in the coalition govt at the Centre then. The plea for adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras HC was rejected twice in 2012 & 2015, he said.

S. Semmalai (AIADMK) urged the State govt to take action on adopting Tamil as official language in the HC. “When the courts in four States can have Hindi as official language in respective States, why not Tamil,” he asked.

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