Delhi HC asks CIC to decide within eight weeks appeal against MHA’s refusal to give info on e-surveillance

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Central Information Commission (CIC) to decide an appeal within eight weeks on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refusal to provide information on electronic surveillance.

Justice Yashwant Varma took on record and accepted the statement made by CIC counsel that all endeavour shall be made to decide the appeal expeditiously and in any case within 8 weeks.

The CIC counsel submitted in pursuance of the court's earlier direction to indicate a time frame within which it will be possible for the commission to decide the appeal.

The high court was hearing a plea by Apar Gupta, a lawyer, co-founder, and Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) challenging the rejection of his RTI applications seeking statistical information on state-sponsored electronic surveillance.

During the hearing, advocate Gaurang Kanth, appearing for CIC, submitted that there has been a backlog due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the commission is presently hearing petitions of 2019, while Gupta's appeal was filed this year. Reacting to the submission, the judge said So you are feeling heavily burdened? I have no problem in passing a direction to decide but we will also record your inability to decide it expeditiously.

The court permitted the petitioner's counsel to place certain additional documents on record to establish that the material could not be weeded out during the pendency of an RTI application, as claimed by the CPIO. The Centre was represented through standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia in the matter. The plea said IFF is a registered charitable trust which defends online freedom, privacy, and innovation in India through strategic litigation and campaigns.

The petition, filed through advocate Vrinda Bhandari, said the petitioner had in December

2018 filed six applications under the Right to Information Act seeking details of the number of orders passed under Section 69 of the IT Act between January 2016 to December 2018 granting permission for electronic surveillance. It said the MHA had originally claimed that the information is exempt for national security and an appeal was filed against the decision and the matter went before the First Appellate Authority (FAA) which refused to intervene.