IB to be held accountable to the law?

HC admits former Intelligence Bureau director's plea seeking for the agency to be covered under legal status on par with any other civil intelligence organisation

HC admits former Intelligence Bureau director's plea seeking for the agency to be covered under legal status on par with any other civil intelligence organisation

A retired joint director of India's premier spy agency has filed a writ petition seeking legal status for the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to be held accountable to the law of the land and to make it more responsible.
Admitting the plea, the High Court has issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the IB head quarters seeking reply.


Representation pic

R N Kulkarni (72), who joined IB in 1963 and retired as Joint Assistant Director in 1998, said that the government, which set up the bureau under the banner of Central Special Branch in 1887, failed to legislate its establishment, resulting in maintaining ad hoc policy till date, which is now ironically headed by Nehchal Sandhu, an IPS cadre officer of 1973 batch.

With this provision, the IB enjoys an extra constitutional position and it exists in constitutional vacuum, which requires urgent judicial intervention, Kulkarni said in his petition. He added that though the fifth pay commission report described IB as an organisation of national security apparatus and equated its staff with CBI in terms of pay scale, it did not emphasise on the legal status of the organisation.

More reason?
The role of the IB has been acutely criticised during the assassination of Prime Minister India Gandhi and even during the 26/11 Mumbai attack pressing the need for it to be brought under regulation. "In this backdrop, I have made several representations to the Union Government to take cognizance, but it has been of no use," Kulkarni said. "The status of IB remains indefinite and vague and means that the IB, which has no constitutional or statutory identity or mandate, is handling grave national security issues," he added.

He informed that this is not only ultra vires legally, but also significant infringement to the rights of the citizen of India as well as rights of IB personnel. Kulkarni has been awarded the Police Special Duty Service medal by the Nagaland government for his work during the critical insurgency period, He cited that democratic countries, including the USA has a stringent statutory framework for the CIA, but the Indian government does not.

Violation of Article 21
The extra-constitutional status of the IB violates Article 21 of the Constitution of India. This violates the fundamental right to life, liberty and safety of the citizens of India.The Union Government remained inactive, as the IB established under Administrative orders made in 1987 without any constitutional or statutory identity, continues despite the commencement of the constitution of India.