MPs’ panel calls up for phone records of officer,DoT hangs up

The Committee on Violation of Protocol Norms and Contemptuous Behaviour of Government Officers had in April sought “collection and submission of telephone and mobile records” of K K Pathak,a joint secretary in the home ministry.

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But the DoT recently refused,saying that Section 5 (2) of the Indian Telegraph Act,read with Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules,authorised only the home secretary as the “competent authority” to issue such an interception order.

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Moreover,it said the DoT instruction on call detail records was explicit that such interception or collation could only be initiated when the information was to be provided to “authorised security and law enforcement agencies”.

These instructions were framed “keeping privacy issue in view”,the DoT’s security wing wrote.

The panel,headed by Girija Vyas,wanted to examine Pathak’s telephone records to check if he had called BJP MP Bishnu Pada Ray to apologise after an alleged altercation in his office in May 2012.

The MP from Andaman had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha then,alleging Pathak had pushed him out of his office when the MP inquired about a tsunami-related proposal. The officer claimed he had telephoned Ray since and they were in touch after the incident.

The panel wanted to scrutinise the call records to see if Pathak had indeed called the MP after the controversial meeting or whether he apologised after Ray raised the matter in the Lok Sabha.

The nature of the alleged squabble is another reason cited by the DoT to deny the call records. It said that interception or data collection even by security and law enforcement agencies was permitted only after invoking provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code against an individual.

Speaker Meira Kumar formed the 15-member committee to deal exclusively with MPs’ complaints against government officials who are indifferent and discourteous to them. It enjoys powers to summon any official against whom a complaint is received.