Firstpost: New Delhi: Friday,
April 19, 2013.
In an
apparent illegal action, a registrar at IIT-Kharagpur had allegedly accessed
call records of a whistleblower professor, from BSNL, with whom the institute
was having litigations at various levels.
Rajeev Kumar
managed to access records through Right to Information Act which show that
officiating registrar TK Ghosal had written to BSNL General Manager, Telephones
in Kharagpur on 1o January 2011 demanding details of calls, made and received
from his personal mobile, for six months.
The records
show that BSNL officials had provided these details to the IIT within three
days of requests being made knowing well that phone was registered in the name
of Kumar and not the institute.
When
contacted over phone, Ghoshal said, “All faculty members are being reimbursed
Rs 750 per month as telephone charges… We asked for the details for some enquiry.
We asked for call details it is not call tapping. We sought the information
from the BSNL. If it is unauthorised, if it is illegal, BSNL authorities could
not have given to us. They would have refused it. We have not forced them to
give it. We have said please give the call details that’s it.”
Ghosal
admitted that phone was registered in the name of Kumar and not IIT.
Suspecting
that he was under “illegal surveillance” of the IIT, Kharagpur authorities,
Kumar had last year filed a complaint with the West Bengal Police alleging that
the BSNL had “unauthorisedly” shared call detail records of his personal mobile
phone with the authorities at IIT-Kharagpur with whom he was in litigation at
various fora.
“The cell
phone connection is my personal cell connection, acquired by me in my own name,
is for my personal use. I pay all the bills, I own the bills and the
receipts…Phone tapping with local connivance of BSNL authorities is not ruled
out. All such aspects may kindly be investigated,” he alleged.
After 10
months of complaint, Inspector Arunava Das asked Kumar, who was the paying
authority for his bills, and demanded copies of payments made by him.
When
contacted, Das refused to give any reasons for the late action and said no
details about the case can be shared.
Ghosal
accepted that police officials had come in this regard and all details have
been furnished to them.
Kumar’s
suspicion turned into real when he received the records of communication
between BSNL officials and the IIT-Kharagpur registrar seeking call details of
his mobile for a six months periods.
Both BSNL and
IIT had refused to part with these records under the RTI Act and were provided
only after orders from the Central Information Commission this week.
When
contacted over phone, Bipin Prabhat Kachhap, who was posted as SDE
(Network-Operation) CM, Kharagpur and had furnished the information, said this
was done on the orders of his superior P K Samanta, who was Deputy General
Manager, and has now retired.
Samanta said
although he knew that the phone was registered in the name of Rajeev Kumar he
provided these details to IIT because the authorities claimed that they
reimbursed the phone bills to their employee.
When asked
whether it was an illegal act, Samanta said he does not remember the details of
the case and he also followed the orders of his general manager who has also
retired.
An RTI crusader,
Kumar is known for bringing into light alleged anomalies in the admission
procedure of the IITs and even Supreme Court have lauded his efforts saying
they have helped in “making merit ranking process more transparent and
accurate.”
In his police
complaint, Kumar had alleged that BSNL officials, by disclosing call details of
his personal mobile, have violated Section 72, 71 A, 77B of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 which have maximum fine of five lakh and imprisonment up
to three years.
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