The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Post Office Bill, 2023 amid protests from the Opposition over the security breach in the House last Wednesday. The Bill replaces the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act of 1898. According to the government, it will “transform” India’s postal system, but members of the Opposition have raised concerns that it will allow the government to indiscriminately intercept, open or detain any item, and free India Post from liability in case of lapses in its services.
“This 170-year-old department is not an ordinary department. It is a link to our history. It is a link to our glorious culture. The postman bringing only post is a thing of the past. Back then, the postman was a member of every family. Similarly, today, through 1.64 lakh post offices, our government has provided every village, every home and every individual with citizen-centric services. Our department is providing 90+ citizen-centric services to the people,” said minister of state for communications, Devusinh Chauhan, while defending the Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The most controversial provision of the Bill, Section 9, allows the Centre to empower any postal officer, via a notification, to “intercept, open or detain any item” in the interest of state security, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency, public safety, or contravention of other laws. This provision also allows post officers to hand over postal items to customs authorities if they are suspected of containing any prohibited items, or items that are subject to customs duties.
Section 10 of the Act, another target of sharp criticism from the Opposition, exempts the Post Office and its officers from liability, unless the officer has acted “fraudulently or wilfully caused loss, delay or mis-delivery of service”.
These provisions correspond to sections 19, 25 and 26 of the 1898 Act, which also placed restrictions on the nature of articles that could be transported through the Indian Post. Opposition MPs have pointed out, however, that the colonial-era Bill had been significantly more specific about the criteria and circumstances under which post could be intercepted. Unlike the 2023 Bil, it also specified the penalty—imprisonment of up to two years or a fine —for postal officers illegally intercepting postal articles or otherwise carrying out misconduct, fraud or theft while engaged in their duties.
On December 13, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that the bill had retained the most “draconian” provisions of the 1898 Bill and would further violate Indian citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and to privacy in an “Orwellian” manner.
Minister Chauhan countered today that in 1986, the Congress government of the time had sought to bring the very same Amendment. Sections 9 and 10 of the Bill were essential for “public safety” and “national interest”, he said.
YSRCP MP B. V. Sathyavathi said that these provisions would be a “game-changer in terms of countering illicit smuggling and unauthorised transportation of drugs and contraband products via the postal services.”
The Bill also empowers the director general of Postal Services to make rules regarding fees for Post Office services.
The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 4 and taken up in the Lok Sabha on December 13. However, debate on the Bill was repeatedly interrupted by the Opposition’s protests regarding the December 13 security breach in the Lok Sabha.
