NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh, has requested President R. Venkataraman, to return the Postal Bill for reconsideration of the two Houses of Indian Parliament.
The bill, brought by the erstwhile Congress-I government, seeks to confer powers on authorities to intercept Indian postal articles in certain cases,
The request to return the legislation to parliament was made by Singh in a letter to the President Saturday.
The opinion of the attorney general on the legal validity of various provisions of bill, sought by the Rajiv Gandhi government, was also enclosed along with the Prime Minister’s letter. The president had suggested that attorney general’s opinion should also be obtained.
The attorney general has felt that the provision of the bill, which interferes with citizen’s right to privacy, would be unconstitutional.
V.P. Singh said in his letter “it may advisable to return the Indian Post Offices Amendment Bill to the Houses of Parliament with the message from the president requesting that they may reconsider the bill specially clause 16”.
The Bill contains 39 clauses seeking to amend various provisions of Indian Post Office Act, 1898. The clause 16 which seeks to amend section 26 of the act confers power of interception.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 12, 1990
