Supreme Court rejects plea for digital monitoring of all MPs; says it would affect right to privacy

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking directions to digitally monitor all elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in India for better governance. [Dr Surinder Nath Kundra v. Union of India].A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra observed,"The plea seeks MPs should be digitally monitored and all policy should be decided by majority votes etc...this plea cannot be entertained...We place the petitioner on notice of the fact that this Court will impose costs if he pursued the cases. However, we desist from imposing costs with a caution that no such plea should be filed in the future.".During today's hearing, the CJI said that the Court cannot digitally monitor all elected MPs, who have the fundamental right to privacy."This is done only for a convicted felon who can flee justice...If you argue, then we will impose costs of ₹5 lakh which will be recovered as land revenue. This is public time and this is not about our ego," he added..The petitioner's counsel then argued, "All these MPs after getting elected under the Representation of People Act start behaving like rulers. They are public servants."Rejecting the argument, the CJI stated,"You cannot make this charge against all the MPs. How will individual citizens make law in a democracy? All laws are passed by Parliament after elected MPs participate. As individual citizens, we cannot arrogate the law. Then people will say we don't need judges...we will decide on the streets and kill for theft. Do we want that to happen?".The counsel argued that MPs should be monitored round the clock by CCTV, and citizens should have access to this footage on their phones."You want us to put chips on MPs who have personal family time also...do you know what you are arguing?" CJI remarked."If they are so touchy they should not apply for this job," the counsel replied.