Plea opposing bio-metric system rejected

A division bench comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad while imposing a cost of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner via Thirupathy Venkatachalapathy Education Trust, Namakkal district, said, “The reason assigned by the petitioner for opposing the installation of bio-metricin schools that there exist no transport andwater facilities are absolutely irrelevant.”

“The decision of the government to streamline attendance by installing such bio-metric machines incurring huge expenditure cannot be ignored. By any stretch of imagination, the plea cannot be subscribed as public interest litigation,” the bench added.

The trust represented by its secretary S Ranjithkumar had contended that most of the government schools does not have proper infrastructure like toilet and lab facilities. Most of the schools in remote villages and mountain villages does not have proper transport facilities. Even most of the villages does not have cell phone towers to get cell phone signals.

Based on this, the plea sought to stall the installation of bio-metric attendance system in schools and instead direct the state to focus and developing the basic infrastructure in schools following which students will automatically start visiting government schools.

The plea also sought the government to act on its representation given onNovember on 24, 2018in this regard.