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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

22/12/23 11:22 AM IST

Concerns about Post Office Bill 2023

In News
  • The Rajya Sabha recently passed the Post Office Bill, 2023, that seeks to replace the colonial-era Indian Post Office Act, 1898.
Key Features
  • Grounds for interception: The Bill allows the interception of articles transmitted via post on grounds such as the security of state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency, public safety, or contravention of the provisions of the Bill or any other laws.
  • Powers of interception: The officer-in-charge appointed by the Central government is empowered to ‘intercept, open or detain’ any postal article on the aforementioned grounds. Such an item can also be disposed of by the government in such a manner as it deems appropriate.
  • Delivery of suspected postal article to customs authority: The Central government by notification can empower any officer of the Post Office to deliver a postal article suspected of containing any prohibited item to the customs authority or any other specified authority. The customs authority will then deal with such an item in accordance with the provisions of law for the time being in force.
  • Exemption from liability: The Bill exempts the Post Office from incurring any liability pertaining to its services. It specifically stipulates that no officer shall incur any liability unless the officer has acted fraudulently, or wilfully caused any loss, delay, or mis-delivery of service.
  • Removal of offences and penalties: There are no offences and penalties specified under the Bill except one: amounts not paid by a user will be recoverable as arrears of land revenue. The 1898 Act contains offences such as theft, misappropriation, or destruction of postal articles which are punishable with imprisonment up to seven years and a fine. However, such offences and penalties were subsequently removed by the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023.
Issues
Violation of the right to privacy
  • The Bill violates the fundamental right to privacy. “Right to Privacy is a fundamental right.
  • Emergency’ not defined, gives unbriddled powers to authorities - It does not stipulate what would qualify as an ‘emergency’ — a ground for interception under Section 9(i) of the Bill.
  • No clarity on the authority in-charge - Referring to the provision stating that ‘interceptions may be carried out by the Central Government, State Governments, or any officer specially authorised by them’, several ministers raised concerns that it does not provide clarity on how these officers will be selected, especially since they have been empowered to ‘open and detain’ any intercepted shipment.
  • Such interceptions may be carried out by Central, State governments or any officer specially authorised by them. Why don’t you specify which level of officer?
  • Procedure for interception not specified - The Bill fails to specify the procedure for interception, thus making it arbitrary in nature.
  • Furthers state surveillance - The Bill, in the absence of guidelines, encourages state surveillance and violates Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and Article 21 of the Constitution.The privacy of all the citizens who use the services of Indian Post is severely compromised since there is no provision in the Bill which injuncts the officer from leaking any contents of the intercepted postal articles
  • Exemption from liability- Section 10(2) of the Bill exempts officers in the post office from incurring any liability ‘with regard to a service provided by the Post Office, unless the Officer acted fraudulently or wilfully caused loss, delay or mis-delivery of service.
  • No grievance redressal mechanism- The Bill does not provide any grievance redressal mechanism to citizens despite relieving post officers of any liability with regard to the services offered. A citizen will be unable to raise concerns of interception or contest in the action. This violates “every principle of natural justice and due process of law.
Supreme Court rulings
  • In People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India (1996), the constitutionality of Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act was challenged for permitting telephonic interception without any due process guarantees.
  • The Supreme Court acknowledged that telephone tapping infringed upon the fundamental right to privacy, and created safeguards against arbitrariness in the exercise of the state’s surveillance powers.
  • It underscored that in the absence of a just and fair procedure to regulate the powers of interception of communication, it is not possible to safeguard the rights of citizens under Articles 19(1)(a) and Article 21.
Extensive guidelines were also issued to regulate interception orders —
  • Orders for telephone tapping may only be issued by the Home Secretary of the Central government or a State government. In an emergency, this power may be delegated to an officer of the Home Department of the Central or State government, and a copy of the order must be sent to the concerned Review Committee within one week. 
  • The authority making the order must consider whether the information that is considered necessary to acquire could reasonably be acquired by other means. 
  • The authority issuing the interception order must maintain records of the intercepted communications; the extent to which material is disclosed; the number of persons to whom the material is disclosed and their identity.
  • In the landmark verdict Justice KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court unanimously declared the right to privacy to be a fundamental right of all Indians.
Source- The Hindu

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