SC refuses early hearing on PIL challenging govt’s ‘snooping’ order

The Supreme Court Registrar on Monday denied early hearing in the PIL against the government notification allowing 10 agencies to conduct surveillance, saying “there is no urgency in the case”, ANI reported. The PIL was filed in the apex court challenging the government’s notification authorising 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any computer system. The petition filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma seeks quashing of the government’s December 20 notification. According to the government’s notification, 10 Central probe and snoop agencies are now empowered under the Information Technology (IT) Act for computer interception and analysis, Ministry of Home Affairs officials said. The 10 agencies notified under the new order are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in service areas of J-K, North East and Assam) and Delhi Police commissioner. The government had come under fire for its move, with the Opposition accusing the Centre of running a “police state”. The government, however, clarified that “no new powers” had been conferred to agencies and that the same rules were brought in by the UPA government in 2009. The development comes at a time when the government has proposed draft amendments to rules governing online content. The proposed amendments to rules under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act make it mandatory for online platforms to “proactively” deploy technology, which would enable a ferreting of content seen as “unlawful”. They also require end-to-end encryption to be broken so that the origin of messages can be traced. Source: The Indian Express