‘Consider giving face shield to police personnel in State’

With a rise in number of COVID-19 positive cases among police personnel in Tamil Nadu, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday asked the State government to examine the feasibility of providing face shields to all police personnel in the State.

A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and B. Pugalendhi observed that the court cannot turn a Nelson’s eye to the fact that the police personnel in the State were getting affected by COVID-19 and something had to be done to protect their lives.

The court was hearing a batch of public interest litigation petitions that sought a direction to the State government to provide adequate personal protective equipment to non-medical frontline workers such as police and sanitary workers.

During the course of the hearing, counsel for the respective Corporations that come under the Jurisdiction of the High Court Bench submitted that a monitoring mechanism was in place to ensure that conservancy workers used protective gear during work.

‘Approach DLSAs’

Taking cognisance of the submissions, the court said public spirited persons can approach the District Legal Services Authorities if they find sanitary workers working without protective gear. Based on such complaints, the DLSAs can take up the issue with the authorities concerned in order to ensure compliance, the court said.