A lawyer on Thursday made a sensational claim before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi that computers and telephones of judges and "very senior" officials are under surveillance after the December 20 order allowing 10 central agencies to snoop on people.
Advocate M.L. Sharma sought an early hearing of his PIL challenging the December 20 notification issued by the Home Ministry as a violation of the fundamental right to privacy.
Chief Justice Gogoi first asked Mr. Sharma whether he has filed the PIL plea, and if so, to pass over the case number. The CJI said the case would be listed in due course if filed.
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The CJI then asked Mr. Sharma whether he had paid a fine of ₹50000, which the court had previously levied on him for filing a frivolous PIL in a separate case.
Lawyer says he has paid the fine
Mr. Sharma said he had paid the fine the very day the order was issued. He said his intentions in the case was genuine and in public interest.
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A nine-judge Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in 2017 had directed the government to protect informational privacy of every individual.
The verdict had directed the government to always carefully and sensitively balance individual privacy and the legitimate concerns of the State, even if national security was at stake.
The December 20 order allows the central agencies, from the Intelligence Bureau to the Central Board of Direct Taxes to the Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) to the Commissioner of Delhi Police to intercept, monitor and de-crypt “any information” generated, transmitted, received or stored in “any computer resource”.
The government order is based on Section 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act of 2000 and Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.
This is when the privacy judgment had asked the Supreme Court “to be sensitive to the needs of and the opportunities and dangers posed to liberty in a digital world”.