As ATMs attract crowds and grab headlines post demonetisation, banks in the northeastern State of Assam are grappling with a unique problem of their own.

The Gauhati High Court has made it mandatory for banks to employ security guards 24X7 at all of the State's 3,605 ATMs or stop operating the machines. The decision has cast a spell of foreboding, especially as people continue to queue up for cash outside ATMs.

The HC order was triggered by a single instance of a “fraudulent” withdrawal of Rs. 35000 from the account of one Swapan Kumar at an ATM counter in Ulubri, Assam, in 2012.

The High Court, taking suo motu cognisance of the fraud, directed the police chief of Assam to explain how the “rights of a common man can be safeguarded” at ATMs.

On the police chief's advice, the High Court issued a diktat in 2013 that all banks should mandatorily employ security guards or caretakers in shifts at all ATMs across the State. A review petition filed by the banks, citing the costs of keeping guards around the clock, failed to impress the High in July 2016.

Flummoxed, the group of banks led by State Bank of India moved the Supreme Court on Monday for relief.

A Bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the order, while admitting the petition and issuing notice to the Reserve Bank of India, the Centre and the Assam DGP.

The banks, represented by Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, argued thatengaging security guards on a 24-hour basis in 3605 ATMs would cost them approximately Rs. 11.72 crore a month.

The individual banks need to have “flexibility” to decide whether they should keep security guards or not, depending on the threat perception and footfalls.

They argued that banks were in the process of providing Electronic Surveillance System round the clock at ATMs. This mechanism was far more responsive than security guards.