Advocate ML Sharma, on January 3, alleged before Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi that telephones and computers of “very senior” officials and judges are under surveillance. He said that this was following the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) directive allowing investigative agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer.
Sharma asked the Supreme Court for an early hearing of his Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against the Modi government’s December 20 decision to allow ten investigative agencies for snooping on people, The Hindu reported. In his PIL, he cited that the government’s order violates fundamental rights.
The ten central agencies authorised to conduct surveillance are: Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation; National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (For service areas of Jammu & Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and even the Commissioner of Police, Delhi. The MHA noted that the powers were conferred under 69(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with rule 4 Information Technology Rules, 2009.