Anand
National Technical Research Organisation or NTRO scam is the biggest intelligence scam to hit India.
The NTRO scam has not just caused loss of money to the exchequer but also compromised India’s national security. The multi crore scam is related to huge irregularities in the procurement and recruitment process of NTRO.
True to the way some recent scams under Congress led UPA has been unearthed, crores of Rupees were wasted in the NTRO scam. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) were purchased from an Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), but every rule was flouted in its purchase. A letter was also sent out to National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon complaining of the irregularities in recruitment of officers in intelligence gathering agency. But it has now been found out that Govt took no action against the malpractices. In effect, it actually handed over the probe to the same man who was accused in the first place
History of NTRO
The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) {originally known as the National Technical Facilities Organization (NTFO)} is a highly specialized technical intelligence gathering agency. While the agency does not affect the working of technical wings of various intelligence agencies, including those of the Indian Armed Forces, it acts as a super-feeder agency for providing technical intelligence to other agencies on internal and external security. The agency is under the control of India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing, although it remains autonomous to some degree. The Group of Ministers (GOM) headed by then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had recommended the constitution of the NTFO as a state-of-the-art technical wing of intelligence gathering. Due to security concerns, the recommendation along with such other matters were not made public when the GOM report was published. The organization does hi-tech surveillance jobs, including satellite monitoring, terrestrial monitoring, internet monitoring, considered vital for the national security apparatus. The NTRO would require over Rs 700 crore (7 billion rupees) to procure different hi-tech equipment from specialized agencies around the globe to become fully functional. The officials have identified countries from where such gadgets could be procured but refused to reveal them due to “security and other implications.” The Government had been working in this direction after the Kargil war in 1999 when the Subrahmanyam committee report pointed out weaknesses in intelligence gathering in the national security set up. Sources said the road-map for constitution of the National Technical Facilities Organization was prepared by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam in October 2001 when he was the Principal Scientific Adviser. It was subsequently mentioned in the Group of Ministers report on internal security.
Controversies
- In September 2007, an article appeared in India Today detailing the difficulties faced by the NTRO, specifically how the other spying agencies of the Govt. of India are not allowing the NTRO to fulfill its duties.
- In February 2010, Indian Express reported that NTRO has become the first Indian Intelligence Agency to be subjected to the ignominy of an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and an investigation by the Central Vigilance Organisation (CVO).
- In April 2010, an Outlook India article (issue dated May 3, 2010), detailed further the issues plaguing the organisation, chiefly the issues of nepotism, inefficiency and corruption amidst the telephone tapping scandal.
- In June 2011, Indian media broke the news that CAG has found that Israeli UAVs bought by NTRO in 2007 at the cost of Rs. 450 crore was lying unused as the bundled satellite link purchased was not meant for dedicated military transmission, which would have made it vulnerable to electronic eavesdropping. An internal enquiry was ordered by PMO to find out if there has been a case of financial corruption.
- The Supreme Court of India, has ordered a probe into the allegations of financial irregularities in the procurement of military hardware. The law suit was filed by a whistleblower VK Mittal, who resigned as a senior scientist of NTRO and perused initiatives to unmask the officers behind the Rs800-crore scandals. The court also observed that it might have to monitor the investigation, given the nature of allegations which point to systemic corruption in the procurement of surveillance equipment.
- In September 2011, an article appeared in The Times of India about how the spy agency had to force an officer ‘to quit in 2007 after he used counterintelligence equipment, including a hidden camera, to bug the bathroom of its security and counter-intelligence director in NTRO headquarters in Delhi. The official was found guilty of placing a hidden, ‘pin-hole’ camera in the bathroom and linking it to his office computer. The bathroom, located on the second floor of the building, was used by not just the counterintelligence director Anil Malhotra but several other officials, including women staffers.’ The incident came to light in September 2007 itself, but was hushed up
Current Scenario
The Supreme Court on 16TH OF January 2012 asked for a copy of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report pointing out alleged irregularities in the purchase of intelligence equipment by National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which was set up in 2004 to provide critical data relating to threats to the nation.
Solicitor general R F Nariman assured a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad that the government had already initiated action against erring officials on the basis of the CAG report but petitioner V K Mittal’s counsel Jayant Bhushan wondered why the Centre was shy of bringing the alleged irregularities into the open by placing the report in Parliament.
The bench asked Nariman to produce the CAG report on NTRO scam in a sealed cover by March 19 2012. This is the second time within a year that the apex court has asked for a CAG report, the first being on the irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum and licences during A Raja’s tenure as telecom minister.
Nariman was belligerent in trashing Mittal’s PIL, not only accusing the latter of attempting to serve a personal interest but also alleging that his correspondence with the authorities revealing top secret projects with their location could help countries inimical to India.
Bhushan countered Nariman by alleging that the government was deliberately keeping the matter under wraps in the name of security to shield the culprits. But the bench said, “It is not a case where the government has put the issue in cold storage but promised that it was being looked into. We will not pass an order but request the SG to produce the CAG report in a sealed cover on March 19.”
Mittal had alleged that a major portion of the Rs 450 crore NTRO scam pertained to purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from an Israeli firm allegedly at a very high price without the mandatory approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
NTRO, which functions under the Prime Minister’s Office, has been entrusted with the task of missile monitoring, satellite and airborne imagery, cyber patrolling and security, cyber offensive operations and communication support systems including cryptology.
It was on the complaint of Mittal, a former joint director in the government of India who had also served in NTRO, that the PMO had ordered a probe into the scam and later, CAG was asked to look into the organisation’s accounts. Nariman alleged that Mittal wanted to head the NTRO and filed the PIL when he did not succeed.
During the last hearing, Bhushan had alleged that Delhi High Court had dismissed Mittal’s writ petition on April 6, 2011 after the Centre filed a probe status report in sealed cover assuring prompt action against the guilty officials. However, no action was taken till date, he claimed.
Mittal’s petition stated that the independent body answerable only to the national security adviser was allotted approximately Rs 8,000 crore since 2005, but there was no accounting of the spending.
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