New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- The Delhi government's social welfare department has ordered that all biometric attendance machines in its offices be placed under CCTV surveillance after officials found suspicious water damage to several devices, raising a "reasonable apprehension" that they may have been "deliberately damaged".

The issue was flagged at a July 31 meeting of department officials chaired by the deputy director (administration). According to the minutes, seen by HT, in-charges of several district offices had reported frequent malfunctioning of biometric attendance devices installed at their premises.

The caretaking branch (CTB), which maintains the devices, told the meeting that it had received repeated complaints about malfunctioni...