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Lok Sabha approves post office bill to replace 125-year-old act
The Lok Sabha on Monday cleared the Post Office Bill, 2023, which will replace the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act of 1898, amid protests by the opposition on the Parliament security breach on December 13.
The Lok Sabha on Monday cleared the Post Office Bill, 2023, which will replace the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act of 1898, amid protests by the opposition on the Parliament security breach on December 13.
The government said the draft legislation will “transform” India’s postal system, but the opposition has raised concerns that it will allow the government to indiscriminately intercept and open post, and free India Post from liability in case of lapses in service.
“This 170-year-old department is not an ordinary department. It is a link to our history. It is a link to our glorious culture. The postman bringing only post is a thing of the past. Back then, the postman was a member of every family. Similarly, today, through 1.64 lakh post offices, our government... has provided every village, every home and every individual with citizen-centric services,” junior communications minister Devusinh Chauhan said while defending the Bill in the Lok Sabha. “Our department is providing 90+ citizen-centric services to the people.”
The contentious Section 9 of the legislation allows the Centre to empower any postal officer through a notification to “intercept, open or detain any item” in the interest of state security, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency, public safety, or contravention of other laws. This provision also allows postal officers to hand over items to customs authorities if they are suspected to contain prohibited items, or items that are subject to customs duties.
Section 10 of the draft law, which has also been criticised by the opposition, exempts the post office and its officers from liability, unless the officer has acted “fraudulently or wilfully caused loss, delay or mis-delivery of service”.
These provisions correspond to Sections 19, 25 and 26 of the 1898 law, which placed restrictions on the nature of articles that could be transported through India Post. Opposition MPs have pointed out that the colonial-era law is significantly more specific about the criteria and circumstances under which post could be intercepted.
Unlike the 2023 legislation, it also specified the penalty—imprisonment of up to two years or a fine —for postal officers illegally intercepting articles or otherwise carrying out misconduct, fraud or theft while engaged in their duties.
On December 13, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the draft law retained the most “draconian” provisions of the 1898 Act and would further violate Indian citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and to privacy in an “Orwellian” manner.
Minister Chauhan countered on Monday that in 1986, the Congress government of the day had sought to bring the same amendments. Sections 9 and 10 of the Bill were essential for public safety and national interest, he claimed.
YSR Congress Party MP B. V. Sathyavathi said these provisions would be a “game-changer in terms of countering illicit smuggling and unauthorised transportation of drugs and contraband products via the postal services.”
The draft legislation also empowers the director general of postal services to make rules regarding fees for services.
The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 4 and was taken up in the Lok Sabha on December 13. However, the debate on the Bill on Monday was interrupted by opposition’s protests regarding the recent security breach in the Lok Sabha.
