Kerala CM flays Centre over order giving 'snooping' powers to 10 govt agencies
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 22 : Criticising the Centre's decision to authorise 10 agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt data contained in any computer system, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Saturday said the order was an "attack" on individual freedom and the Right to Privacy.
Vijayan said it was even more "disturbing" that the media, members of legislatures and even judiciary have not been excluded from the ambit of the order.
"The Union Government is pushing the nation into a state of undeclared emergency," he said in a Facebook post.
Vijayan said the Home Ministry's notification was contrary to the spirit of a Supreme Court order which had held Right to Privacy as a fundamental right.
"The Union Government argues that the notification was issued under the IT Act 2000.
"This argument does not have any logic as section 66 A of the IT Act 2000, which penalises for sharing objectionable content online, was struck down by the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional," he claimed.
He alleged that the order was an attempt to deny democratic rights to citizens who disagree with the RSS and the BJP and it also restricts the freedom of press.
The order was passed late night Thursday by the 'cyber and information security' division of the Union Home ministry under the authority of Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.
According to the order, 10 central probe and snoop agencies are now empowered under the Information Technology Act for computer interception and analysis, officials said.
The 10 agencies include the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, and National Investigation Agency.
The agencies have been authorised "for the purpose of interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource under the said Act (section 69 of the IT Act, 2000)", the order states.
According to an earlier order, the Union Home Secretary is also empowered to authorise or sanction the intelligence and security agencies for undertaking tapping and analysis of phone calls under the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act.
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Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls
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Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.
The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.
The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.
The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.
They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.
The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.
While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.
Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.
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