SC upholds right to privacy

NEW DELHI: Putting a premium on the citizen''s right to privacy, the Supreme Court has quashed an amendment to the Andhra Pradesh Stamp Act allowing unhindered power to the collector to inspect documents with private individuals and banks for the purpose of assessing and levy of stamp duty.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice Ashok Bhan, upholding the High Court judgement, said "We agree with the view taken by the High Court that Section 73 of the Indian Stamp Act as amended in its application to the State of Andhra Pradesh by Andhra Pradesh Act No.17 of 1986 is ultra vires the Constitution."
Chief Justice Lahoti, writing for the Bench, said "it is clear that this provision empowers invasion of the home of the person in whose possession the documents, ''tending'' to or leading to the various facts stated in Section 73, are in existence.
"Section 73, being one without any safeguards as to probable or reasonable cause or reasonable basis or materials, violates the right to privacy both of the house and of the person," he said.
The CJI observed that a bare reading of Section 73 indicates the informities with which the provision suffers.
The provision empowered any person authorised in writing by the collector to have access to documents in private custody or custody of a public officer without regard to the fact whether the documents were sought to be used before any authority competent to receive evidence.