LI Network
Published on: December 24, 2023 at 14:27 IST
The Delhi High Court has ruled that information related to the interception, tapping, or tracking of a phone is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act).
The Court emphasized that such disclosure could be considered to adversely impact the sovereignty and integrity of India.
The Division Bench, consisting of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan, addressed an appeal filed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), challenging a directive from the Central Information Commission (CIC) to provide information about phone surveillance and tracking under the RTI Act.
The appeal contested a judgment by a Single Judge Bench that upheld the CIC’s directive.
The court referred to a previous case, Poorna Prajna Public School v. Central Information Commission & Ors.: 2009, cited by the Single Judge, and highlighted that the information held by a public authority from a private body under another law qualifies as “information” under the RTI Act.
However, TRAI argued that dominion over information by a public authority is a prerequisite for RTI Act applications and questioned the reliance on Section 12 of the TRAI Act by the Single Judge.
TRAI contended that, under Sections 12 and 13 of the TRAI Act, the authority can only seek information related to its functions outlined in Section 11 of the TRAI Act.
Moreover, TRAI maintained that information regarding surveillance falls outside its jurisdiction, and the TRAI Act explicitly excludes such information from its purview.
Examining the Indian Telegraph Act, the court noted that surveillance activities do not fall under the domain of telecom service providers but are carried out under government directions.
Orders for interception, tapping, or tracking are issued when the authorized officer deems it necessary in the interest of sovereignty, integrity, security, public order, or preventing incitement to an offense.
The court stated, “Such order, therefore, by its very nature may have been passed in the process of investigation. In a given case, the disclosure of any such information, therefore, may impede the process of investigation and may be construed to prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, the strategic, scientific, and economic interest of the State, relations with the foreign states or lead to incitement of an offense, and would, therefore, be exempted from disclosure under the terms of Section 8 of the RTI Act.”
The judgment concluded that information related to phone interception, tapping, or tracking, as ordered by the government under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, may fall within the exemption under Section 8 of the RTI Act. Consequently, the court allowed the appeal, overturning the Single Judge’s decision.
Case Title: Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India v. Kabir Shankar Bose & Ors.
