The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Central Government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a plea seeking formulation of guidelines on “tracing, tapping and surveillance of phone calls”..The plea also seeks constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate “abuse of power” by “some” CBI officers who misused their power for illegal phone tapping..The matter was listed for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V Kameswar Rao..Preferred by Advocate Sarthak Chaturvedi, the public interest litigation (PIL) alleges that “uncontrolled and unaccountable powers” in the hands of Agencies and Public Officers who are authorised to order technical surveillance, prejudices national security as well as Right to Privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India..To support his claim, the Petitioner relies upon the latest CBI vs CBI saga, calling it “a classic example of abuse of powers” by public officers when it comes to illegal phone tapping..Referring to the allegations of phone tapping of CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s mobile device at the behest of former Director Alok Verma, the Petition filed through Advocates Amit Tiwari, Ankit Anandraj Shah and Adarsh Varma reads,.“As in present case, the DIG, Special Unit was able to provide input to other officials including Sh. Alok Kumar Verma and Sh. A K Sharma on the basis of technical surveillance only. These officials had formed a syndicate to pursue their ulterior motives. This fact is also evident from the fact that despite transfers instead of only challenging their transfer orders, Sh. A K Sharma, Sh. S SGurm and Sh. A K Bassi in individual capacities filed application in the W.P.(Crl) No.3248/2018, titled as Rakesh KumarAsthana Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation.“.Further, it has been claimed that mobile numbers of several individuals who had made phone calls to Rakesh Asthana were illegally intercepted by the DIG, Special Unit, CBI..“On 17.10.2018, the Director CBI briefed Sh. Ajit Doval, NSA and informed him that Sh. Rakesh Asthana’s name is cited in the FIR. Subsequently on the same night, it was informed by Special Unit to Sh.ManishSinha that NSA has informed Sh. Rakesh Asthana about registration of FIR. It was informed that Sh.Rakesh Asthana reportedly made a request to NSA that he should not be arrested. How did Special unitlearnt this? Did they illegally intercept calls of NSA and Sh. Rakesh Asthana?“.The petition, therefore, alleges that agencies authorized for technical surveillance only use partial phone tapping records. Also, they are not obligated under any law to report back to an authority on what has been done with the details intercepted by them for which they had obtained permissions. This, in turn, bestows uncontrollable powers upon officers which is abused and misused by them to intercept calls, it has been stated..“This vaccum in the policy bestows upon public servants uncontrolled and unaccountable powers to abuse and misuse the interception for purposes other than for which permission was obtained. The competent authority should take stock of all interception for definite period to avoid misuse and to ascertain usefulness of interception. This will ensure accountability.”.The Petitioner also brings on record that the Union of India has till date “miserably failed” to frame guidelines and policies governing interception of calls, despite being empowered to do so under Section 7(2)(b) of The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885,.The Petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal..The matter would be next heard on March 26..Read the Petition:
The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Central Government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a plea seeking formulation of guidelines on “tracing, tapping and surveillance of phone calls”..The plea also seeks constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate “abuse of power” by “some” CBI officers who misused their power for illegal phone tapping..The matter was listed for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V Kameswar Rao..Preferred by Advocate Sarthak Chaturvedi, the public interest litigation (PIL) alleges that “uncontrolled and unaccountable powers” in the hands of Agencies and Public Officers who are authorised to order technical surveillance, prejudices national security as well as Right to Privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India..To support his claim, the Petitioner relies upon the latest CBI vs CBI saga, calling it “a classic example of abuse of powers” by public officers when it comes to illegal phone tapping..Referring to the allegations of phone tapping of CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s mobile device at the behest of former Director Alok Verma, the Petition filed through Advocates Amit Tiwari, Ankit Anandraj Shah and Adarsh Varma reads,.“As in present case, the DIG, Special Unit was able to provide input to other officials including Sh. Alok Kumar Verma and Sh. A K Sharma on the basis of technical surveillance only. These officials had formed a syndicate to pursue their ulterior motives. This fact is also evident from the fact that despite transfers instead of only challenging their transfer orders, Sh. A K Sharma, Sh. S SGurm and Sh. A K Bassi in individual capacities filed application in the W.P.(Crl) No.3248/2018, titled as Rakesh KumarAsthana Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation.“.Further, it has been claimed that mobile numbers of several individuals who had made phone calls to Rakesh Asthana were illegally intercepted by the DIG, Special Unit, CBI..“On 17.10.2018, the Director CBI briefed Sh. Ajit Doval, NSA and informed him that Sh. Rakesh Asthana’s name is cited in the FIR. Subsequently on the same night, it was informed by Special Unit to Sh.ManishSinha that NSA has informed Sh. Rakesh Asthana about registration of FIR. It was informed that Sh.Rakesh Asthana reportedly made a request to NSA that he should not be arrested. How did Special unitlearnt this? Did they illegally intercept calls of NSA and Sh. Rakesh Asthana?“.The petition, therefore, alleges that agencies authorized for technical surveillance only use partial phone tapping records. Also, they are not obligated under any law to report back to an authority on what has been done with the details intercepted by them for which they had obtained permissions. This, in turn, bestows uncontrollable powers upon officers which is abused and misused by them to intercept calls, it has been stated..“This vaccum in the policy bestows upon public servants uncontrolled and unaccountable powers to abuse and misuse the interception for purposes other than for which permission was obtained. The competent authority should take stock of all interception for definite period to avoid misuse and to ascertain usefulness of interception. This will ensure accountability.”.The Petitioner also brings on record that the Union of India has till date “miserably failed” to frame guidelines and policies governing interception of calls, despite being empowered to do so under Section 7(2)(b) of The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885,.The Petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal..The matter would be next heard on March 26..Read the Petition: