HC asks TNSLA to convene meeting on status of women prisons

The Madras High Court today directed Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, to convene a meeting with representatives of the Government and the amicus curie, appointed by the court to monitor the status of women prisons.
The direction was gien by the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana on a batch of petitions regarding status of women prisons.
"We are of the view that it would be appropriate for the Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLA), to call a meeting where the representatives of the Government and the counsels including the amicus curie present and the factual position on implementation of various suggestions may be checked and placed before the Court, the bench said.

The bench while clubbing various petitions filed in this regard in its order said "the implementation of various suggestions made by TNSLA and which were confirmed and suggested by the amicus curie could be checked".
The bench while referring to the recommendations made in its order said "what are the conditions lacking and how much time they will take to implement and if there is some suggestion over which there is hesitation on the part of the Government to implement the reasons for the same should be disclosed.
"The information may be available to us in the form of a Chart", the bench said.

The matter relates to the pathetic condition of women prisons which were brought to the notice of the bench through various PIL's seeking a direction to implement the guidelines of the Supreme Court order of April,16, 2006.

The bench had earlier directed the TNSLA to file a report and also appointed advocate Sudha Ramalingam as amicus curie.
The TNSLA through the District Legal Services made inspections and filed a comprehensive report with the recommendations and suggestions made by the amicus curie.
The recommendations and suggestions that were made by Amicus Curie were including appointment of visitors committee in the district level.