New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought
response from the Centre on a plea seeking laying down of
guidelines for tapping telephonic conversation by taking into
account the right to privacy of citizens.
A bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK
Ganguly issued notices to the Centre and Department of
Telecommunication on a PIL filed by an advocate seeking
direction that interceptions which are purely private in
nature should be kept out of the ambit of tapping.
The petition filed by advocate Ravinder Kumar
submitted that there should be general guidelines and
regulations for recording conversation which concerns the
security of the nation.
The PIL, filed through advocate Aftab Ali Khan, said
that any individual could not be subjected to tapping as it
would amount to infringing on the privacy of a person.
The bench tagged the petition with that of Tata Group
chief Ratan Tata in which the industrialist has raised the
same issue.
Tata had filed the petition in the wake of Niira Radia
phone tapping episode and sought direction to the government
to stop any further publication of the recorded transcript.
In the petition, Tata had contended that right to life
also extends to right to privacy.
PTI
