Amid intensifying surveillance of Opposition leaders, journalists and activists, the Union government has authorised the Home Secretary to destroy interception orders, a power that was vested only with security agencies until now under the 2009 rules that were framed for regulating call intercepts. In 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs authorised 10 agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and the Intelligence Bureau, to snoop into communications in a statutory order.
These agencies were then required to destroy the intercept orders within six months, except when the orders were “required for functional requirements”. February 26th’s order expanded the destruction powers to the Home Secretary. It is unclear why the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) — which issued the amendment granting the Home Secretary this power — acted to centralise surveillance paperwork destruction powers.
“We have already seen that MeitY issues secret orders, threatens companies to remove and block content or lose business,” Mishi Choudhary, a lawyer and digital rights activist said. “Now, it is ensuring that there will be no trace of such orders.”
