Delhi high court seeks detailed affidavit from govt on surveillance systems

Appearing for the NGOs, advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the court to constitute a committee under a retired judge of the HC or the Supreme Court to “find out what the government was doing”

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit on a plea by an NGO challenging the use generalised surveillance systems by the authorities while also seeking details of procedure in relation to the monitoring and interception of phones.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the Centre to file its reply while hearing a plea by two societies. (File Photo)

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the Centre to file its reply while hearing a plea by two societies-- Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC)—contending that citizens’ right to privacy was being “endangered” by surveillance programmes like the Centralised Monitoring System, Network Traffic Analysis and National Intelligence Grid.

“Time to file detailed affidavit granted to Union of India. Point out in detail the law and procedure followed by the Union of India for monitoring and interception of phones,” the bench said posting the matter for September 30.

Appearing for the NGOs, advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the court to constitute a committee under a retired judge of the HC or the Supreme Court to “find out what the government was doing” and that the government reply in the present case was “bald”. “They filed an affidavit saying everything is in accordance with law. Government’s reply is a bald reply.”