Friday, December 13, 2013

Airtel And Tata Teleservices In Cyber Law Violation Controversy

Indian telecom companies like Airtel and Tata are flouting cyber law of India and that too within the knowledge of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). It has been reported that both Tata and Airtel have violated the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Internet intermediary rules.

The disclosure was initially made at the Cyber Crime Investigation Centre of India managed by Perry4Law’s Techno Legal Base (PTLB). According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of Asia, both Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL) and Airtel have failed to comply with Cyber Law Due Diligence Requirements as prescribed by the Information Technology Act, 2000.

TTL and Airtel have also violated the provisions of Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 of India under Information Technology Act 2000 (PDF), informs Dalal.

This makes both the telecom companies TTL and Airtel as well as the officers in default to be prosecuted under the provisions of IT Act, 2000. Section 85(1) of the IT Act 2000 provides that where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of the IT Act 2000 or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of business of the company as well as the company, shall be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub- section shall render any such person liable to punishment if he proves that the contravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent such contravention. However, since both Airtel and TTL have duly informed as per Indian laws and they have failed to observe cyber law due diligence, they have no protection under the proviso.

Further, Section 85(2) of the IT Act, 2000 provides that notwithstanding anything contained in sub- section (1), where a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder has been committed by a company and it is proved that the contravention has taken place with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Now since the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Department of Telecommunication (Dot) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are well aware of these negative developments on the part of TTL and Airtel, they must take suitable actions against the guilty companies and the officers in default.