The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest writ petition filed by the Centre for a direction to bring out a proper mechanism to ensure the accountability of three intelligence agencies,
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest writ petition filed by the Centre for a direction to bring out a proper mechanism to ensure the accountability of three intelligence agencies, namely: Intellig-ence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and National Technical Research Organisation.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh said, “We feel a judicial order to audit the agencies will create a dent in our functioning and security. This would lead to a dangerous situation. Sorry, we will not interfere. We must give them room to work and there is no need for judicial interference. We are not inclined to entertain this petition. Executive powers co-exist with legislative powers also. We do not think the court should entertain such kinds of petition which deal with the security of the country.”
Earlier, A-G Mukul Rohatgi opposed the PIL on the ground that an audit would expose the intelligence officials, already vulnerable due to their job profile. The CPIL said such a mechanism was necessary as these agencies were only public authorities which had been operating since their very inception without any accountability to Parliament or any other democratic institution.
