New Delhi: The agencies with access to the Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) include IB, RAW, CBI, NIA, CBDT, Narcotics Control Bureau, ED and DRI.
On Tuesday, top MHA officials met senior officials of the department of telecom and other stakeholders, and it was decided the system can be operationalised in six months.
The CMS will have twin centres in place, one in the National capital and one in another city. The system has been designed and developed indigenously at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore and is being linked to the Telephone Call Interception System (TCIS) set up across atleast 30 locations in the country to monitor voice calls, SMS & MMS, FAX communication on landline, GPRS, CDMA, video calls, GSM and 3G networks.
Allaying privacy concerns, top government sources said the CMS will ensure that the monitoring of phone calls, messages and Internet used by citizens is done only by government agencies after taking due permission from the designated authority.
“Any request for interception or tapping will be electronically recorded. The role of telecom service providers in allowing access will be replaced by a system where they are no directly accessing the details themselves making it more fool proof,” a top official said.
Detailed standard operating procedures have already been put in place by the DoT and MHA where the central agencies have to take permission of Union home secretary before putting phone or data usage of any individual under surveillance, while the state police require the sanction of the respective principal secretary.
