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Parliament Winter Session : Rajya Sabha approved the ‘Post Office Bill, 2023,’ aiming to revoke the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act and enhance regulations governing the country’s postal services. Despite opposition concerns, particularly around potential implications for privacy and the risk of creating a “surveillance state,” Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan assured that provisions addressing national security concerns were not new and existed in the previous version of the legislation.
The bill, passed through a voice vote following Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s response, signifies a transformation in the functioning of post offices over the past nine years. The legislation grants the central government authority to intercept, open, or detain items in the interest of national security, foreign relations, public order, emergencies, public safety, or contraventions of existing laws.
Know about the Post Office Bill 2023
Key provisions of the bill include empowering the Post Office to offer services defined by the Central Government, with the Director General of Postal Services authorized to establish regulations and set charges for these services. Notably, India Post will not bear liability for its services, except as prescribed by rules.
The enactment of this new law aims to streamline post office operations, providing a legislative framework to facilitate their evolution into a network for citizen-centric service delivery. As the last full session before the upcoming general elections, the Winter Session seeks to address pending legislations, including bills to replace the IPC, Criminal Penal Code, and the Evidence Act, alongside proposals related to the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners.
