NEW DELHI, July 30: The Intelligence Bureau has planted at least a dozen officials among the Watch and Ward staff of Parliament to snoop on the members and keep tabs on political activity in general.This is in clear violation of all Parliamentary conventions and MPs' privileges.

The Indian Express has, in its possession, the names and serial numbers of each of these officials. Neither the Lok Sabha secretariat nor the Intelligence Bureau was willing to comment on the issue.

But one official, with the Watch and Ward unit of Parliament, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said: ``We did issue the passes like we do every year on the request of the Government. We are told the IB presence is because of security reasons''. Indeed, five out of the 12 IB officials in Parliament House are from the Subsidy Intelligence Bureau (SIB), which ostensibly takes care of security needs of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers.

But seven officials belong to the Special Enquiry and Surveillance Unit (SES). And it's their presence which is bound to raise eyebrows. For, the SES is an operational unit engaged in surveillance. Its team in Parliament comprises Joint Central Intelligence Officers (JCIO) and Deputy Central Intelligence Officers (DCIO).

(These ranks are equivalent to those of an Inspector and Superintendent of Police.) The SES is headed by Special Director R C Mehta who reports to IB Director Arun Bhagat. The IB team in Parliament has unrestricted access.

Its domain of operations: the Central Hall, the canteen, the officials' gallery and the visitors' gallery. Its job: monitoring all activity and political surveillance. Under law, even the Delhi police isn't allowed within Parliament House.

Security is handled by the Watch and Ward office which works under the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The IB presence, therefore, violates all norms.Yet, all its 12 officials are armed with valid passes issued by the Watch and Ward office. The IB virtually functions like a parallel press corps.

Its members have assigned beats: they cover political parties, cultivate sources and keep tabs on who met whom, what transpired at these meetings. They monitor changing political equations, they even cover debates.

In some cases, there is even a one-on-one intensive surveillance of politicians who figure on the ``watch list.'' Covert surveillance of politicians isn't new. The Chandra Shekhar government had to go after two Haryana policemen were found allegedly snooping around Rajiv Gandhi's residence.

Incidentally, The Indian Express had recently reported on how the IB was diverting foreign mail addressed to private citizens and sending letters to editors, using fake names and addresses, to plug the Government's point of view. Earlier, the Cabinet Secretary had set up a panel to look into mail tampering and had assured that it had been discontinued.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.