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.
