Interception rules formulated under UPA in 2009: Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley hit out at Congress, accusing it of "playing" with India's security after the opposition party claimed that the Centre's designation of 10 agencies for interception of computers was an act of a snoop state.

Jaitley said the rules for interception were formulated under UPA in 2009 and the December 20 notification by the home ministry authorising agencies to intercept was in keeping with the same rules and had, in fact, made it more specific and reduced the scope of abuse.

"Congress is making a mountain where there's not even a molehill," Jaitley said. Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned for the day as opposition MPs continued to raise slogans against what they described as efforts to turn India into a surveillance state .

After Congress MP Anand Sharma raised the issue, Jaitley said it would have been better if the opposition had obtained all information before making assertions.

"When senior members from opposition raise an issue, every word spoken by them has precious value and therefore they must know the facts," he added.

Jaitley said the rules under which agencies were authorised to intercept were framed in 2009 when the Congress-led UPA was in power. "The authorisation has been issued under the same rules. Since the Act has been in place, these orders of authorisation are repeated," he said.

Outside the House, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad strongly defended the move and said there was a need to track those plotting or involved in violence, online radicalisers and proscribed groups like Maoists and terror groups. He said the opposition's criticism was a textbook case of speaking without homework .

Prasad said the IT Act, which has provisions for such interception, was brought by the UPA and the Centre had made it more accountable by naming designated agencies to carry out interception. "The UPA had enacted the law. We have made it accountable," he said. "Congress should answer whether terrorism is a threat to the country or not," he said. The decision to intercept anybody's computer can be invoked only in matters of national integrity and security, public order and friendly relations with other countries, he said .