SC Declines Urgent Hearing Of PIL Against Centre's Order On Monitoring Of Computers

The Supreme Court Bench led Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi today declined urgent hearing of Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma's PIL challenging Central Government's order authorizing ten central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt information on computers of any citizen.

The bench, also comprising Justice S K Kaul, said it will hear his plea only after Sharma paid the cost of Rs 50,000 imposed on him last month for filing a PIL against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

" I have deposited the amount," Sharma informed the Bench while answering court's query.

" If you have deposited, show the receipt to the Registry and let the matter be listed in the court," CJI said.

The PIL challenges the notification issued by Home Ministry under Section 69 of the IT Act

In the PIL, Sharma has alleged the motive behind the notification is to "control the entire country" through "dictatorship" and win the "coming general election under an undisclosed Emergency".

He alleged that the present government is trying to implicate innocent citizens on the basis of the information collected by these agencies.

Sharma has questioned the government's powers to snoop on citizens without recording an FIR for any cognisable offence, and to subject its citizens to "slavery".

Apart from the Delhi police commissioner, the agencies authorised to snoop are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) and the Directorate of Signal Intelligence (for service areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast and Assam).