NGO’s trying to corner Indian Intelligence agencies ?

[Paranoid Android]

Public Interest Litigation Expert

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there was an “enormous amount of control” over the working of the intelligence agencies, including their finances, by the government as it opposed a plea by an NGO for some oversight over their functioning.

“There is an enormous amount of control over the working of the intelligence agencies. A parliamentary sub-committee (looks) into their working and tables report in parliament which are not published,” Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha told the bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.

ASG Narasimha said the accounts of the intelligence agencies were audited.

He refused to part with the documents sought by petitioner NGO CPIL, saying they were privileged documents.

He, however, said the same could be shown to the judges for their examination.

The government response came as counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, told the court that they just wanted to have some “oversight” and “accountability” of the intelligence organisations like legislative control and auditing of their accounts by the CAG.

The intelligence agencies that the NGO was seeking to be brought under legislative scrutiny and the auditing of their accounts by CAG includes the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).

The NGO contended that these intelligence agencies were snooping on the privacy of the citizens and were operating without any legislative mandate.

It said it was not seeking any disclosure of secrets but merely asking that there should be some guidelines to regulate the operations of intelligence agencies.

“The primary task of intelligence agencies is to collect intelligence of threats to the nation’s security, from external as well as internal sources,” the CPIL said.

“However, these agencies (IB, RAW and NTRO) have often been used for carrying out illegal acts by politicians and bureaucrats.”

The misuse of these agencies, the PIL said, includes “offering bribes to members of political parties to induce them change their loyalty, rigging and purchasing votes during elections, toppling elected governments, monitoring the activities and telephones of political opponents, and so on”.

To buttress its point, the PIL cited books written by those who had served these agencies, including “The Kaoboys of R&AW” by B. Raman, “Inside IB and RAW” by K. Sankaran Nair, “Open Secrets – India’s Intelligence Unveiled” by Maloy Krishna Dhar.
NGO’s trying to corner Indian Intelligence agencies ? | idrw.org

 

[jamahir]

It said it was not seeking any disclosure of secrets but merely asking that there should be some guidelines to regulate the operations of intelligence agencies.

a reasonable ask.

 

[uparyupari]

Its a good demand. We need to re-establish checks and balances in the IB. IB has become a political tool in the hands of the congress.

Also in RAW to ensure they do not operate within India, only outside India.

Another agency that needs to be freed and KICKED into shape is the CBI.

 

[mpk1988]

The privacy of citizens is the worthless when it comes to national security. How dumb are activists that they cannot comprehend this ? If privacy laws were stringently imposed then we would be putting the lives of millions of citizens at risk every week.

But then that's what you expect.. All these demands should simply be squashed by the govt. Human rights nonsense, Privacy etc mean zilch when it comes to these agencies everywhere. Any oversight if at all should only be to ensure that nothing goes against national interests.

 

[uparyupari]

The privacy of citizens is the worthless when it comes to national security. How dumb are activists that they cannot comprehend this ? If privacy laws were stringently imposed then we would be putting the lives of millions of citizens at risk every week.

But then that's what you expect.. All these demands should simply be squashed by the govt. Human rights nonsense, Privacy etc mean zilch when it comes to these agencies everywhere. Any oversight if at all should only be to ensure that nothing goes against national interests.

Establishing Checks and Balance ensures that the organization does what its supposed to do.

That way fiascos like "kargil" and "mumbai attacks" can be avoided

So far NO ONE has been found guilty of Incompetence by failing to prevent such attacks. This system of covering up their incompetence MUST GO.

Accountability and Credibility is a MUST.