(a) whether a number of cases of corporate and other espionage have been unearthed in various Union Ministries and various investigation age- ncies including the Delhi Police are conducting investigations into the said matter;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of departments and officers/staff found involved in the said matter so far; and
(c) the measures taken by the Government to check such espionage activities in the country parti- cularly in Government establishments?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI HARIBHAI PARATHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)
(a)&(b): Madam, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police has recently detected a Corporate Espionage case involving some staff working in the Ministries of Coal, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Environment &Forest and Power as well as a few employees of corporate houses and arrested 16 persons in all in this regard. The CBI has also detected a similar case involving some officials of Ministries of Commerce and Finance.
(c) The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued the ‘Manual of Departmental Security Instructions, 1994’which provides for a comprehensive set of instructions regarding classification of documents, the procedure for dealing with the same as also the responsibility of Government servants. These instructions are already available with all the Ministries/Departments. These instructions are also reiterated from time to time to all Ministries/ Department by the Ministry of Home Affairs.