The Delhi High
Court has set aside an order upholding the Central Information Commission's
(CIC) direction to telecom regulator TRAI to collect and furnish information
under RTI proceedings about the alleged tapping of a mobile user's phone.
A bench headed by
Justice Vibhu Bakhru allowed an appeal filed by the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) against a single-judge bench order and said an act of
surveillance is carried out under the government's directions and in the
interest of the country's sovereignty and integrity, the security of the State,
friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or for preventing
incitement to the commission of an offence, and is exempted under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act.
"Any orders
passed by the government concerned in relation to interception or tapping or
tracking of a phone is passed when the authorised officer is satisfied that it
is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of the sovereignty and
integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign
states or public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of an
offence," the bench, also comprising Justice Amit Mahajan, said in a
recent order.
"In a given
case, the disclosure of any such information, therefore, may impede the process
of investigation and may be construed to prejudicially affect the sovereignty
and integrity of India, the security, the strategic, scientific and economic
interest of the State, relations with foreign states or lead to incitement of
an offence, and would therefore be exempted from disclosure under the terms of
section 8 of the RTI Act," the court concluded.
It further said
phone tapping does not fall under the affairs of telecom service providers and
the information sought also does not relate to the functions of the TRAI under
the law.
"Any
contrary view would give the authority (TRAI) unbridled power to call for
information and interfere with the functions of telecom service providers, and
also would not be in consonance with the objects sought to be achieved by the
TRAI Act," the court said.
It said the TRAI
was established for the purpose of regulating telecom services to protect the
interest of the service providers and consumers in the telecom sector, and to
promote and ensure an orderly growth of the sector.
The court noted
that "information" under the RTI Act includes any information
relating to any private body, which can be accessed by a public authority under
any other law for the time being in force.
The high court
had, in August 2021, stayed the single-judge order, saying irreparable damage
will be caused if the same was not done.
Lawyer Kabir
Shankar Bose had filed an RTI application seeking information and details on
whether his phone was being tapped and by which agency.
The telecom
regulator had said directions to intercept a phone number are issued only by
government officials of certain ranks and such information cannot be collated
by it and furnished to a consumer or subscriber as it would "prejudicially
affect the sovereignty and integrity of the nation".
Bose had moved
the CIC after his telecom service provider, Vodafone, declined his request for
information on whether his phone was being tapped.
The company had
claimed that it did not come under the ambit of the RTI Act. Bose had then
moved the TRAI, which said it did not have the information he had asked for.
The CIC, in its
September 12, 2018 order, asked the TRAI to obtain the information from the
telecom company and provide it to Bose.
The TRAI challenged
it in the high court and the single judge, on November 20, 2018, upheld the
CIC's decision, saying the TRAI has the powers to call for any information or
conduct an investigation where it considers expedient.
The single-judge
order also said the TRAI does have the obligation to get the information from
the private body and furnish it to the subscriber.