The home ministry has refused to provide the number of phone-tapping authorisations given by it to different enforcement agencies in recent years in the country.
The ministry has made it clear that even generic information about the working of such units is exempted from the transparency law. Citing confidentiality clauses of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the ministry said such information reflect the functioning of the security and intelligence organisations.
However, the RTI applicant had not sought any details of the surveillance but only the number of permissions given by the home secretary. A senior official of the ministry in his reply said, “In as much as even generic data touches upon and is reflective of the functioning of the security and intelligence organisations, which in the legislative wisdom have been kept outside the operation of the RTI Act, I find no reason to accept the appeal”. The matter may now go to the Central Information Commission as a second appeal in this regard. Under the Telegraph Act and the IT Act, each case of monitoring of telephones or electronic communications has to be approved by the Union home secretary personally and is subject to review by an oversight committee chaired by the Cabinet secretary.
The official also cited another section which allows withholding of information which will endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes. Another clause cited by the official was that it would impede the process of investigation or prosecution of offenders.