New Delhi: A parliamentary panel looking into the issue of alleged surveillance of mobile phones of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley in 2013 said on Tuesday that unauthorised collection of call records of MPs amounts to breach of privilege if it hinders their functioning.
The Rajya Sabha committee on privileges also directed the Delhi Police to pursue criminal case filed in the matter with "all sincerity" so that the guilty persons could be punished and inform it about the outcome of the judicial proceedings in the case. In its previous report, the panel had termed the unauthorised access of call data records of Jaitley as not breach of parliamentary privilege.
Following the opposition to the report from several members of the House cutting across party lines, the panel on privileges revisited the report.
The panel heard the Delhi Police Commissioner and also took opinion of the Attorney General on the issue of collection of call detail records of MPs. The panel after examining the matter was of the view that "if unauthorized collection of CDR of sitting members of Parliament causes any hindrance or obstruction in their parliamentary functions, it would tantamount to breach of privilege beside being a breach of privacy...," the committee said.