Hyderabad: The Union telecommunication department has sent the letter in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs in which it has asked the Telangana government to implead itself in the courts and inform them about the legal position on interception and monitoring of telephone messages.
Sources said the MHA had opined that the AP government pressurising telecom operators to reveal data would have serious repercussions pertaining to national security. “...all orders of interception of telephone messages or class of messages fall under provision of sections 5(2)of Indian Telegraph Act and rules are carried out in pursuance of affairs of the State (sic)...,” stated telecommunications secretary Rakesh Garg in his letter.
“The notices issued by the investigations agencies/courts under section 92 of CrPC appear to be bad in law because the provisions related to interception of documents, parcel or thing exchanged between two private persons and does not cover authorization relating to legal interception of telephone issued by the competent public authority. Also, the intercepted data is not available with the telecom service providers but is in the possession of law enforcement and intelligence agencies concerned (sic),” added Mr Garg in the letter.
