Supreme Court notice to govt on plea for guidelines on telephone tapping

The Supreme Court today 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 Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly issued notices to the Centre and the 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 Nira 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.