The Madras High Court was hearing a plea about the difficulty in obtaining e-passes.
The government of Tamil Nadu, on Monday, informed the Madras High court that a committee will be formed to streamline the issuance of e-passes for movement in the state and between states. According to a report, the court was hearing a plea on the difficulty in obtaining e-passes for travel on Monday when it was informed by the state government about the committee.
The government counsel submitted to a division bench consisting of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha that a committee will be set up by the state government to examine the issues raised by the people around e-passes and that the government will take action based on the recommendations made by the committee. The counsel also stated that the committee will examine the issue around the misuse of the passes and the bogus e-passes that have come to the notice of the authorities.
Recently, several media reports highlighted that e-passes were barely being approved for emergency purposes and that the system has become a front for bribery and corruption. Media exposes also revealed the prevalence of agents, who assure an e-pass on payment of money.
Following the media reports, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that all the districts will get one more team to allocate e-passes, which will double the number of e-passes issued to the people for their travel purposes.
Tamil Nadu still has the e-pass system for anybody who wants to travel between districts or between Tamil Nadu and other states. The government-run portal to apply for the e-pass has several categories under which one can choose to apply — emergency purposes like medical, wedding and funeral, return of stranded people, business travel etc. Recently, the Chief Minister had also said that the e-pass system will not be scrapped any time soon and that it is because of this system that the caseload has remained less in the districts.
Source: The News Minute