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Pillai said there is a "consensus at the
official level in the government on the need"
for the legislation that was introduced in the
Lok Sabha by the Congress party's Manish Tewari
as a private member's bill.
The former home secretary was speaking at a seminar
on "Enabling Intelligence in India: Autonomy,
Accountability and Oversight" at Observer
Research Foundation, a Delhi-based public policy
think tank .
"I am hopeful it will be done. I can assure
you that your bill is not forgotten or put under
the table. There may be some red-tapism. But it
is being studied," Pillai told Tewari, who
was also present at the seminar.
The Intelligence Services (Powers and Regulation)
Bill, 2011, seeks parliamentary supervision on
three major intelligence agencies -- Research
and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau
(IB) and the National Technical Research Organisation
(NTRO).
The draft bill broadly proposes a National Intelligence
Tribunal for the investigation of complaints against
these agencies, a parliamentary committee for
an effective supervisory mechanism of these agencies,
and an intelligence ombudsman for efficient functioning
of the agencies.
The former home secretary said a committee of
secretaries was looking into bill that also seeks
a provision for the coordination among such agencies.
Pillai said the draft bill was under the consideration
of the office of National Security Advisor (NSA)
Shivshankar Menon.
"The winter session is the practical time
frame with this session too overburdened with
many important legislations like Lokpal, food
security bill, etc.," he said.
Pillai was of the view that the intelligence
agencies have unlimited autonomy in terms of finance
and that there was enough scope for improvement
in the other areas.
Tewari said there was a need to create a supervisory
mechanism outside government, but that should
be comfortable enough to give comfort to the practitioners
of the trade.
Allaying the fears of the intelligence community
that parliamentary oversight mechanism might lead
to misuse of intelligence inputs and put some
handicap, the Congress spokesperson said intelligence
agencies in the US worked efficiently in such
Congressional oversight.
He also gave the examples of Russia, Germany
and Japan where such mechanisms have not affected
the functioning of the intelligence agencies.
(IANS)
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