Delhi High Court directs Centre to file detailed reply on procedure followed for monitoring, interception of phones

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Central government to file a detailed reply on the procedure followed for monitoring and interception of phones in a plea against surveillance of citizens by the government (Centre for Public Interest Litigation v. Union of India)..A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to the Centre to stop collection of citizens' data through NATGRID, Central Monitoring System and Netra. "The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta seeks time to file a written counter affidavit on behalf of the Union. The counsel on behalf of the petitioner, CPIL insists that several averments in the petition haven't been replied to. We direct the respondents to file a detailed reply on the procedure followed for monitoring, interception and decryption of phones," the Court ordered.The matter will be heard again on September 30..Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), argued that the actions of the government were in contravention of the principles laid down in the Supreme Court's judgment in KS Puttaswamy. "Recently, there was news about Pegasus which targets people's phones. This petition is about general surveillance which is done in three ways through Comprehensive Monitoring System, Netra and Natgrid," Bhushan said.Thereafter, he explained the working of these surveillance systems by explaining how a simple Google search could lead to tracking on the basis of a particular keyword.Bhushan further explained this concept by drawing parallels to Edward Snowden disclosing a similar system called 'Prism', which ensures that all traffic going through the internet is comprehensively tapped and stored."In India, it's similar to some extent as they're putting in place systems through which information will be secured about phone calls, messages, etc. The Netra system can scan information through key words and NATGRID collects information from institutions. For instance, a person's travel information can be collected through the airline's website," Bhushan said..Bhushan went on to state that there were about 7,500-9,000 applications for phone tapping pending consideration before the Home Secretary.In this regard, he also referred to Justice Arun Mishra's remarks which pointed to an overwhelming number of applications for phone-tapping that were remarkably silent on reasons for invasion of the citizens' privacy."I am suggesting a committee formed under Justice Mishra or Justice Shah which seeks and investigates how these permissions are being given for phone-tapping," Bhushan added..Responding to this, Solicitor General for India Tushar Mehta drew the Court's attention to the fact that the same issue was pending before the Supreme Court."They are not aware of the statutory rules. All instances of interception were carried out with proper permission. It is permissible under Section 69 of the Information and Technology Act, 2000. We will place everything on record in the reply. I also request you to use the word 'interception' instead of phone-tapping," SG Mehta said.Bhushan was quick to point out,"Phone-tapping is just one issue. They're monitoring the whole internet traffic.".When the matter was heard in December last year, the Court had directed the Centre to file its response to the plea, but had also refused to pass any interim direction seeking details of the data collected.Bhushan had argued then that collectively, NATGRID, Central Monitoring System (CMS) and Netra create a 360° surveillance on citizens, including on judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court."All internet traffic, all emails, communications sent through the internet can be seen by the government," he had claimed.He had also relied on Puttaswamy to say that the government was not entitled to know these details about a citizen unless it was legally authorised to do so and that there was a specific objective behind it..Delhi High Court seeks Centre's response in plea against collection of citizens' data through NATGRID, Central Monitoring System and Netra