National Security, Privacy Rights And Right To Information In India

Privacy laws in India and privacy rights in India are two issues that have never received the attention of Indian government. Some have even claimed that Indian government is suppressing privacy rights in India deliberately. This argument now seems to be very convincing especially if we keep in mind the latest developments and lack of legislative and political will on the part of Indian parliament and Indian government.

Privacy rights and laws in India are required for protecting human rights in cyberspace that are presently missing in India. The matter is already pending in Supreme Court of India and it has a great chance to strengthen privacy rights in India in the IT era keeping in mind the national security and public interest requirements. However, the balance between various fundamental rights must be maintained by the Supreme Court of India.

According to Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, “The Indian Constitutional Scheme is based upon “Balance of Rights” and no right is absolute in nature. In case of conflict between two Fundamental Rights, the Fundamental Right that strengthens and substantiate the Public Interest should prevail”. Hence if there is a conflict between Right to Privacy and Right to Information/know, information can be disclosed in certain circumstances to substantiate and strengthen Public Interest, opines Dalal.  

According to this expert legal opinion, the Supreme Court of India is well within its rights to allow disclosure of conversation details between Ratan Tata and Nira Radia. Agrees Praveen Dalal who believes that not all tapped conversations can be labeled as “Private” or pertaining to “National Security” and barring few “Exceptional Disclosures” all other can be made “Public” by the Supreme Court of India.

The Supreme Court of India must not unnecessarily put a “Blanket Ban” upon disclosure or publication of such conversations as that would amount to “Unreasonable Curtailment” of other Fundamental Rights like Right to Information, opines Praveen Dalal. The “National Security Card” should not be used by any individual or institution, including the Supreme Court of India, to defeat the Constitutional Protections and Safeguards, suggests Praveen Dalal.

Nations all over the world are enacting laws whose primary purpose is to strengthen unlawful interceptions through the instrumentality of laws. Since this is going to be challenged by people, nations are playing the card of “national security” by creating fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD factor). I hope Indian Supreme Court would not be swayed away by the national security aspect too much and unnecessarily.

The Money Games That Power Companies Are Playing Unrestricted

In this guest column, Mr. B.S.Dalal, partner at Perry4Law, is sharing opinion regarding the recent spurt of incidences of over charging by power companies operating in Delhi. This is his personal opinion and not of this blog or its authors and administrator.

Delhi electricity regulatory commission (DERC) is one of the most pro active commissions operating in India. The news that DERC penalised Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) for violations reaffirms the commitment of DERC. However, despite it being a pro active commission, power irregularities and aberrations are abundant in Delhi.

Residents of Delhi have been fighting the irregularities and misdeeds of various power suppliers. There is lot of hue and cry in Delhi in this regard. Surprisingly, Delhi government has not provided any assurance in this regard so far.

I myself received one electricity bill that does not make any sense. It is highly inflated and it seems to be violating all the norms and standards of common sense. After agitating the matter with DERC in an informal manner and TPDDL in a formal manner, I finally received an evasive reply from TPDDL today.

It is evident that they are not providing the correct facts and figures and the detailed supplied by them is not only self contradictory but also does not make any sense. As a vigilant citizen of India and resident of India, I did what we must do. I lodged a grievance and complaint with the Delhi’s Chief Minister’s office and other governmental officials and agencies and you must also do so.

We all know that corruption is a root cause for many problems in India. Now even Indian government acknowledges this fact and claims to be working in the direction of elimination of corruption in India.

However, the words does not match the deeds of Indian government in general and Delhi government in particular otherwise there would not have been the episodes that are currently happening in the power sector of India.

I hope my complaint would be entertained by the Delhi government and cognizance of the same would also be taken by the Central government. I would update all in this regard very soon.

Radia Tapes, Ratan Tata’s Privacy, Fundamental Rights And Public Interest

Privacy is a sacrosanct right that any civilized society must recognise. However, we have no dedicated privacy rights and laws in India.  This is despite the fact that privacy laws in India and privacy rights in India have been constantly demanded in India by various civil liberty stakeholders. Even we have no dedicated data protection laws in India as on date.

This is bizarre as in the present information and communication technology (ICT) era absence of privacy and data protection laws in India are more by design than ignorance. Techno legal experts in India have been suggesting that we must give a special attention to the privacy rights in India in the information age.

They maintain that privacy and data protection requirements are essential part of civil liberties protection in cyberspace. It would not be wrong to assume privacy and data protection rights as integral part of human rights protection in cyberspace.

Fortunately, privacy rights issue is pending before the Supreme Court of India due to leakage of tapped conversation between Ratan Tata and Nira Radia. The Supreme Court of India must expand privacy rights in India as that is the need of hour. However, while respecting the privacy rights of Ratan Tata we cannot exclude the right of others to information. Clearly, there is a conflict between right to privacy and right to information that needs to be resolved by the Indian Supreme Court.

According to Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, “The Indian Constitutional Scheme is based upon “Balance of Rights” and no right is absolute in nature. In case of conflict between two Fundamental Rights, the Fundamental Right that strengthens and substantiate the Public Interest should prevail”. Hence if there is a conflict between Right to Privacy and Right to Information/know, information can be disclosed in certain circumstances to substantiate and strengthen Public Interest, opines Dalal.  

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India has warned that privacy violations may also pose national security problems in India. The court has asked Indian government to keep in place a system that can maintain the safety and privacy of any intercepted and tapped conversation. Let us see what would be the stand of Centre in this regard during the next hearing.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) Punished by DERC

There is something absolutely wrong with the affairs of electric power distributors in Delhi. In many cases, the bills provided by power suppliers of Delhi do not match with the consumption pattern. Similarly in other cases, bills on much higher sides are imposed upon the consumers.

What is more surprising is the fact that this is happening right under the nose of Delhi government and with its clear indirect support to this loot. However, courts, tribunals and consumer commissions of Delhi have not taken this lightly.

For instance, the Delhi's power regulator DERC has imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 on Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) for committing a number of violations including wrong assessment of a consumer's electricity bill and snapping of supply. This is a good step taken by the DERC as power suppliers in Delhi have crossed all the limits.

In fact, many localities of Delhi have raised objections against the inflated bills that Delhi power suppliers have forced upon the residents of Delhi. Why chief minister Sheila Dikshit has not taken action against the defaulting telecom companies and suppliers is still not known?

This silence of Sheila Dikshit only indicates that these power suppliers have indirect support of Delhi government to loot innocent and law abiding residents. There are many that openly steal electricity in Delhi but only law abiding residents are targeted by the power companies of Delhi with excessive bills.

I hope our politicians pay equal importance to voter’s problems as they pay to their precious votes during times of elections. But then election manifestos and promises are just political jargons and nothing more as has been proved by the telecom debacle of Delhi. 

National Security Of India May Be Jeopardised: SC Tells Government

In a pleasant move, A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya sternly told the Indian government that its lacksidial attitude towards technological issues may post a serious threat to Indian national security.

The Bench chided the Centre over its failure in fixing accountability in the leakage of audio tapes containing telephonic conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with various persons, including Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. The Bench also made it clear that it would pass directives for the authorities to ensure no leakage of tapped conversations in future could occur since it might also endanger the national security.

However, what is more pleasant is the acknowledgement of the threats of hacking by the Bench. The Bench also snubbed the government for expressing its difficulties in providing absolute safeguard against the leakage of tapes and hacking in the wake of the fast-changing technology.

The Bench categorically told the Centre that “You must keep pace with technological developments and rather you must keep ahead of them. These conversations (Radia tapes) are of no relevance when we consider that there could be tapes containing crucial information on national security. Such leakage or hacking of computers could pose threats. Further steps will have to be directed by us.

According to Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, these observations of the Bench have come at the right time as Indian Government is presently facing a “Technology Bankruptcy” and “ICT Emergency” vis-à-vis Cyber Crimes, Cyber Attacks, Cyber Security and other related issues. I congratulate the Bench for taking such a pro active approach, says Praveen Dalal. It is high time to formulate a National Security Policy of India as soon as possible, opines Praveen Dalal.

Surprisingly, the Indian government has admitted that even in these tapes, there could be certain conversations pertaining to national security. The Bench also took note of this precarious situation and asked “So they must also be with everyone who has these tapes. Fortunately they have not come out but what is the guarantee that it has not been passed on other agencies, also those in foreign countries?”

Till Supreme Court of India does not declare laws like official secret, telegraph act, information technology act 2000, etc as “unconstitutional”, nothing is going to improve in India. These laws have been deliberately framed in this manner so that civil liberties in cyberspace and otherwise can be suppressed at will. If even Supreme Court fails to deliver justice, India would become an absolute endemic e-surveillance society and a “banana republic”.

Why India Is Ignoring Cyber Security?

Cyber crimes and cyber attacks have become a prime cause of concern world over. Even India is facing serious cyber threats but India is not well prepared to deal with the same. Take the example of cyber security of power sector of India that is in doldrums.

Cyber security in India has not received the attention it required from Indian government.  Naturally there are many cyber security challenges in India that have still to be redressed by India. India is still struggling to deal with menaces of cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, cyber warfare, etc.

According to Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, India should step up its efforts to strengthen cyber defence in tandem with traditional national security capabilities. Ensuring foolproof cyber security, he believes, is next to impossible. However, Dalal said that cyber attacks can be minimized, though. "India has remained indifferent towards cyber defence for long, which resulted in poor cyber security capabilities," he opined.

India also lacks effective cyber law and enforceable cyber security policy. For instance, we have a single provision to tackle cyber terrorism in India. This may not adequately protect India's sovereign interest given the global onslaught of cyber terrorist activities.

There is no doubt that India requires a dedicated law on cyber terrorism. Existing laws in India, even the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act 2000, are not sufficient for effectively regulating all the cyber crimes occurring in India.

India also needs good techno-legal cyber security for its defense forces. India must urgently formulate good cyber security policy and effective crisis management plan for cyber attacks and cyber terrorism. The issue must be taken at the national level and a national policy is needed in this regard.

It is high time for India to take care of these issues to prevent further troubles and problems.

Cyber Security Of Power Sector In India

Indian government is famous for its knee jerk reactions. It always tries to cure the problem rather than preventing it from happening. Even the cure part of India government is far from perfect. In short, Indian government is neither interested in preventive nor a curative situation.

One such area that has been ignored for more than a five years by Indian government pertains to cyber security that is still an ignored world. Surprisingly, Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, warned about this situation in the year 2006/07 itself but it seems the Indian government is too slow to react.

Another related warning was given by Praveen Dalal regarding the lack of cyber security of power sector of India in the year 2011 but Indian government again failed to pick up the signal. It is only after a massive power blackout that Indian government has woken up to the dangers of cyber attacks against Indian power sector.

The truth is that cyber security of power energy and utilities in India is in really bad shape. Now even the enquiry into the July 30-31 grid collapse has affirmed the opinion of Praveen Dalal. The enquiry report has affirmed that Indian power systems could be vulnerable to severe cyber attacks on a scale that can have serious implications for national security and economy.

I am not sure whether even this would be successful in waking up Indian government to streamline its power sector cyber security systems in general and cyber security of India in particular.

Cyber security challenges for the smart grids in India are not easy to manage and India is clearly not equipped to do so at present. According to Praveen Dalal, Power Grids and Utilities Cyber Security in India and their Challenges are not easy to manage. They require a systematic, dedicated and security oriented approach on the part of Indian Government. In fact, Smart Meters are becoming headache for power companies world wide, informs Praveen Dalal. Naturally, Cyber Security Capabilities of India must be Strengthened opines Praveen Dalal.

Keeping this fact in mind, critical infrastructure protection in India in general and cyber security of automated power grids of India in particular must be ensured with latest technology and international best practices.