Privacy protection is a losing battle: SC

Guj says commercial misuse of personal info can be taken care of by Trai

New Delhi, Aug. 2: Voicing concern over possible misuse of personal information in public domain, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that protection of the concept of privacy in the technological era was a “losing battle”.

A nine-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, heard marathon arguments for six days over a period of three weeks and reserved its verdict on the issue whether right to privacy can be held as a fundamental right under the Constitution. A battery of senior lawyers, including Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, Arvind Datar, Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subaramaniam, Shayam Divan, Anand Grover, C.A. Sundaram and Rakesh Dwivedi, advanced arguments in favour and against the inclusion of right to privacy as a fundamental right.

The judgement would be delivered on or before August 27 as Chief Justice Khehar, who presided over the bench, would demit the office on that day.

The bench, which favoured “overarching” guidelines to protect private information in public domain, said there was a need to “maintain the core of privacy” as the notion of privacy was fast becoming irrelevant in an all-pervading technological era.

“We are fighting a losing battle of privacy. We do not know for what purpose the information will be used. This is exactly a cause of concern,” the bench, which also comprised justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde, R.K. Agrawal, R.F. Nariman, A.M. Sapre, D.Y. Chandrachud, S K Kaul and S. Abdul Nazeer, said.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who appeared for the Gujarat government, however, said transparency was a key component in the modern age and providing basic personal information could not be covered under right to privacy and referred to illustrations in support of his submission.

He said that commercial misuse or violation of personal information can be taken care of by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and other agencies.

The senior lawyer then referred to the Supreme Court Rules which made it mandatory for lawyers and litigants to part with various personal information like names, address, telephone number, occupation and national unique ID cards, if any, for filing a public interest litigation.

“Your lordships are marching forward with technology by seeking various personal information under the rules,” Mr Dwivedi said, adding the Aadhaar card as an identity document was also accepted. “But, this (Aadhaar) is not mandatory,” the bench said.

THE JUDGEMENT on whether right to privacy can be held as a fundamental right would be delivered on or before August 27 as CJI Khehar would demit the office on that day.

Political arch-rivals - the BJP and the Congress - seem to have joined hands for a change. Both the parties are against the decision to have the None of the Above (Nota) option in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

While the Congress moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the BJP approached the Election Commission for the removal of Nota, a day after the Congress made a similar demand.

The apex court will hear the plea filed by the Congress’ Gujarat unit on Thursday.

The BJP is of the view that since parties issue a whip for Rajya Sabha polls, Nota option goes “against the nature of the whip.”

The BJP has fielded its national president Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and former Congress leader Balwantsinh Rajput for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat against the lone Congress candidate Ahmed Patel. The election is scheduled on August 8.

There was uproar in Parliament on Tuesday and charges were traded after the Congress raised the issue of Nota in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat.

Sources disclosed that a senior Congress leader also had a discussion with a Cabinet minister on the issue earlier in the day. Chief whip of the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly, Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, in his petition before the apex court, has sought quashing of the August 1 circular issued by the secretary of the Assembly. The circular states that Nota option would be made applicable in the Upper House elections.

The petition has alleged that use of the Nota option violates the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

“Without a corresponding amendment in the Act and the rules, any purported administrative action of the Election Commission of India to introduce Nota is ex-facie illegal, arbitrary and in fact tainted with mala fide,” it claimed.

The petition alleged that the EC “has become a tool in the hands of the ruling dispensation to facilitate violation of the provisions of the Constitution, the Act and the rules”.

THE BJP ON Wednesday approached the EC seeking removal of the Nota option in the upcoming Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat, a day after the Congress made a similar demand.

THE BJP is of the view that since parties issue a whip for Rajya Sabha polls, Nota option goes “against the nature of the whip.”