The Supreme Court on Friday in its order rejected a petition seeking directions to the Central government to digitally monitor all elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in India for better governance.”You want us to put chips on MPs who have personal family time also. Do you know what you are arguing,” asked a three-judge bench comprising CJI Dhananjaya Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.The petitioner, Dr Surinder Nath Kundra, was unhappy that MPs — after getting elected — start behaving like rulers and not like public servants.He argued that if they were under constant surveillance and any citizen could watch their bodycam footage, there would be much less corruption in this country. He also suggested several other ‘reforms’, such as ensuring that all policy decisions be taken by vote only.”The court cannot digitally monitor all elected MPs, who have the fundamental right to privacy. The plea..cannot be entertained,” the CJI rejected the petition of Kundra.Apparently unimpressed by Kundra’s ideas, the bench warned him not to file such pleas in the future.The bench suggested that such a drastic intrusion into personal privacy is warranted only in the rarest cases, such as that of a convicted felon who is at risk of fleeing.When the petitioner expressed his unhappiness with the suggestion, the judges warned that they will impose a cost of Rs 5 lakh if continued to argue and waste the court’s time. “This is public time and this is not about our ego,” they warned.
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