Head of UT police departments can now intercept calls: DoT

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has now authorised ‘head of police department’ of Union Territories to intercept calls and messages under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

In an order dated December 16, 2024, the DoT has added ‘Head of Police department of concerned Union Territory’ to the list of ‘authorised agencies’.

The nine central agencies that could already intercept calls and messages are: Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Research and Analysis Wing/Cabinet Secretariat, and Directorate of Signal Intelligence in the defence ministry (only for service areas of Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and Assam). The director general of police of the concerned state and Delhi police commissioner (for Delhi Metro City Service Area) are also among those authorised at state level.

In the earlier list of authorised agencies, issued under the now replaced Telegraph Act (1885) and Rule 419A of the Telegraph Rules, the head of the police department of the UT concerned was not included. The December order was issued under Rule 3(1) of Telecommunications (Procedures and Safeguards for Lawful Interception of Messages) Rules, 2024 which were brought into effect on December 6, 2024. The order was sent to all state and UT chief secretaries on December 24 by the home ministry.

Rule 3(1) empowers the central government to specify one or more authorised agencies “to intercept or receive any message or class of messages pursuant to an interception order”. Under the act, an interception order can be issued “in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence and security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of any offence”.

These agencies can carry out interception only on receiving an interception order from the “competent authority”, that is, the union or state home secretary. In “unavoidable circumstances”, a duly authorised joint secretary-level officer may issue the order. Interception orders cannot be passed if the information can be acquired through “other reasonable means”, the rules say.

Yaqoob Alam, associate at Saraf and Partners, pointed out that the DoT order and the subsequent MHA communication are marked as “restricted”. “Ideally, the list of authorised agencies under the Telecom Act should be made public, similar to the IT Act. There is no reason to keep it private,” he said.

The list of authorised agencies is quite similar to the list of ten security and intelligence agencies that were empowered by the MHA on December 20, 2018 to intercept, monitor and decrypt information under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act. The order under the IT Act, however, does not specifically empower officers from the state or UT police.

The Telecom Interception Rules of 2024 require all records related to interception, including the orders themselves and the intercepted messages, to be securely and “with extreme secrecy” destroyed by the government’s review committee, as well as the authorising entities — Union or state home secretary — and law enforcement agencies, every six months.

Alam also said that the interception orders issued under Telecom Act will only apply to telecom companies whereas the orders under the IT Act will apply to a wider range of intermediaries and entities (including telcos), “reflecting its broader scope”. He said that “message” is broadly defined under the Telecom Act and means “any sign, signal, writing, text, image, sound, video, data stream, intelligence or information sent through telecommunication”.