SC stays Gauhati HC order on round-the-clock security at ATMs

The Supreme Court today stayed the Gauhati High Court's direction to provide round-the-clock security at all ATMs in Assam after various banks pleaded that it was not feasible for them to post guards at all the booths.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud granted ad-interim stay on the direction of the high court and issued notice on the appeal filed by State Bank of India.
"There shall be ad-interim stay insofar as directions contained in sub-clause (i) of (a) of the operative part of the impugned judgment" which said that for proper functioning of ATMs, there should be security protocols including placing of guards round-the-clock at all such counters so that proper queues are enforced and only one customer could enter it at a time, it said.

Various banks pleaded before the bench that there were over 3,000 ATMS in Assam and it was not feasible for them to post security guards round-the-clock at the booths.
The high court in its December 12, 2013 order on a petition converted into PIL after it took suo moto cognisance of media reports that a BSNL official was duped for Rs 35,000 at an ATM counter.
It had passed slew of directions like 24 hours security cover at ATMs to ensure that only one customer could enter a booth at a time, functional CCTV cameras at the counters.
It had also said that people should enter ATMs booths without mufflers, helmets or caps and sought checking of character antecedents of temporary workers.

The high court had also directed the banks to designate a nodal officer for liaisoning with the police and for providing video footage and other information that may be sought by a police officer during investigation of ATM-related thefts.