No blanket permission given for surveillance under NETRA, NATGRID: Centre to HC
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Last Updated: Feb 05, 2021, 03:47 PM IST
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Synopsis
The government defended the need for the CMS, NETRA and NATGRID surveillance systems saying that grave threats to the country from terrorism, radicalisation, cybercrime, drug cartels, etc, cannot be understated or ignored and it was imperative, therefore, to have a robust mechanism for speedy collection of actionable intelligence .
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGOs, told the court that the affidavit does not state what specific steps have been taken by the government and added that since all kind of personal information, like travel itinerary, purchases, bank transactions, etc, was being intercepted and not just phone calls
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Affidavit filed by Home Minister in Delhi High Court says there is no need for any new oversight body to review interception and monitoring orders
The Centre on Friday denied granting blanket permission to any government agency for interception or monitoring of any messages or information under its surveillance programmes such as Centralized Monitoring System (CMS), Network Traffic Analysis (NETRA) and National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
“There is no blanket permission to any agency for interception or monitoring or decryption; and permission from the competent authority (Union Home Secretary) is required, as per due process of law and rules in each case,” read an affidavit filed by the Home Ministry before the Delhi High Court.