Govt order giving agencies vast snooping powers challenged in Supreme Court

Legal experts have said that the powers given to agencies under Section 69 of the IT Act need to be looked at afresh in view of the top court declaring the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right

The December 21 notification of the central government giving ten agencies wide-ranging powers to decrypt information stored on any computer in the country in the interest of national security has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The matter, however, has been denied an urgent hearing and will be listed according to the usual roster when the apex court reopens on January 2. 

The said notification has been challenged by advocate M L Sharma who has said in his petition that the said notification should be set aside as it violated Section 21 of the Constitution and ran contra to the