Supreme Court: Seeks reply from Center on monitoring systems like NatGrid and CMS, reply sought in four weeks

The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Central government on a plea to transfer to the apex court a PIL challenging the surveillance systems. This PIL is pending in the Delhi High Court. The petition claims that citizens' right to privacy is being endangered by surveillance systems like the Centralized Monitoring System (CMS), Network Traffic Analysis (NATRA), and National Intelligence Grid (NETGRID).

Hearing this, the bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra issued a notice to the Center on October 10 and sought a reply within four weeks. The bench listed the transfer petition filed by non-governmental organization (NGO) Center for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) for hearing on November 10.

The PIL filed by CPIL and SFLC is pending before the Delhi High Court. It said that these surveillance systems allow central and state law enforcement agencies to monitor telecommunications on a large scale and this is a violation of the fundamental right to privacy of citizens.

The plea, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, argued that under the CMS surveillance system, all types of communications such as telephone calls, WhatsApp messages, and emails are intercepted and monitored. The petition said that under the NetGrid system, tax and bank account details, credit card transactions, visa and immigration records, and rail and air journeys are monitored.