Israel visit: HC notices to Maharashtra govt, DGIPR

A PIL alleged that after the November 2019 elections, a delegation of officials embarked on a tour to Israel under the garb of studying web media, whereas the real object was to acquire a spying software

The Bombay high court on Thursday issued notices to the state and the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) on a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that soon after the Assembly elections in November 2019, a delegation of senior officials embarked on a tour to Israel under the garb of studying advance web media, whereas the real object was to acquire a spying software on the lines of Pegasus.

HC asked the state government, DGIPR and the officials to file affidavits in reply within four weeks. (,HT File)

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the PIL filed by Right To Information (RTI) activists Laxman Bura and Digambar Gentyal, was informed by advocate Tejesh Dande that the petition sought action against five DGIPR officials who participated in the study tour between November 15 and 25, 2019, to Israel. The PIL stated that the tour was based on a September 5, 2019, invitation by the Consulate General of Israel.

While elaborating on the issue, the petition stated that through an RTI query filed in November 2019, it was found that the five DGIPR officials led by then director Ajay Ambekar had gone on the Israel tour without following mandatory procedures as laid down in the government resolution of 2014, resulting in the misuse of public funds.

The GR stipulates seeking approvals and sanctions from various authorities and the Central government for foreign tours of officials and also discourages such tours if any alternate mode, like video-conferencing, was available, so as to avoid expenses to the government coffers.

The petition stated that as the cost incurred during the foreign tour was around ₹14 lakh, it was mandatory on the officials to obtain an approval from the Central government as well then Maharashtra chief minister but they permissions were taken.

The RTI query, the petition stated, further revealed that the topics which the officials had gone to study included new trends in government PR, new ways of utilising web media, usage of digital marketing tools, preparation of holistic and comprehensive media plan for dissemination of government messages, utilising media in the times of emergencies and eventualities and other such topics.

While stating that the topics were not significant nor revealed any substantial and specific importance which required going to Israel, the petition alleged that the tour had some other agenda.

“It appears that under the garb of media management training and other allied activities, the government was sending its officials to bring other modalities in the country for misusing them during election process, including electronic voting machine hacking software etc,” the petition stated.

The PIL has also referred to news reports which questioned the purpose of the tour and has claimed that there seems to be a nexus between the alleged phone-tapping case and the Israel tour. The petition, noted that though Israel had expertise in agricultural technology, contrary to it, the study tour was in respect of enhancement of usage in web media, which created reasonable suspicion as to the purpose of the tour and the motives behind it.

In light of these submissions, the petition has sought a judicial inquiry into the tour and also prayed for the court to call records pertaining to the visit and inform HC as to what special knowledge the officials gained and how it will benefit the country.

After hearing submissions, the bench issued notices to the state government, DGIPR and the officials, and asked them to file affidavits in reply within four weeks.