The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Congress leaders V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala seeking a court-monitored investigation into the installation of artificial intelligence (AI) cameras under the state’s Safe Kerala initiative.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji held that the petitioners had failed to substantiate their allegations of corruption or collusion in the project. The court said that the 90-page public interest litigation (PIL) contained only “general allegations” and lacked credible documentary evidence.
The bench underscored that a judicial probe could not be ordered based on suspicion alone.
“The petitioners’ request for an inquiry is based on unsubstantiated claims without credible documentary evidence of collusion, predetermination, or corruption. Initiating a broad judicial probe without prima facie evidence would amount to a fishing and roving inquiry,” the court observed.
The judges also stressed that public interest litigations were not meant to be platforms for political disputes or challenges to every government decision without a solid factual foundation.
The court noted that the Congress leaders did not challenge the project when administrative sanction was given in July 2020 or at the time of its final approval in April 2023. Instead, they approached the court only after the project was fully implemented and payments became due to the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (Keltron). This delay, the bench held, was “fatal to their case.”
On the issue of data privacy raised in the plea, the bench clarified that images of traffic violations captured by the AI cameras were stored on the National Informatics Centre (NIC) server under the control of the central government, ruling out concerns of unauthorized transfer.
“It can be safely concluded that there was no breach of data privacy as contended by the petitioners,” the court said.
After examining the pleadings, affidavits, and arguments, the High Court concluded that there was no evidence of mala fides, illegality, corruption, or procedural irregularities in the award of the AI camera contract under the Safe Kerala project.
“This PIL lacks substantive merit and does not meet the established legal threshold for judicial intervention in the state’s contractual matters,” the bench ruled while dismissing the petition.
