Niira Radia tapes: SC sends notice to government

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the government in connection to corporate lobbyist Niira Radia tapes relating to the 2G spectrum allocation case, after Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata sought privacy on the matter.

According to reports, the SC has asked for an affidavit with 10 days from various government departments made parties in the petition.

The apex court has also slapped notices on Indian magazines Outlook and Open that published transcripts and audio tapes (on their websites) of purported conversations between Radia and others.

Earlier the day (Thursday), the Union Government deposited to the Supreme Court on the documents containing the conversations between Niira Radia and others relating to the 2G case.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, while submitting the documents in tapes and CD, said they were directly downloaded from the server which contains the conversations.

The documents were placed before the bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, who on Wednesday had directed the government to do so.

On Nov 28, peeved over the publication of tapes of conversation of its corporate communications official, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said he would move the Supreme Court for violation of right to privacy.

Ratan Tata told NDTV in an interview that he will move the apex court over the publication of the tapes meant for investigation in the 2G scam.

The Tata’s petition in the Supreme Court will focus on the fact that phones can be tapped but they should not be made public.

He said the Tata Group never subverted any policy through Niira Radia, the public relations consultant of the Tatas belonging to Vaishnavi Communications firm.

Indian magazines Outlook and Open published in their latest editions transcripts and audio tapes (on their websites) of purported conversations between Niira Radia, dubbed as a corporate lobbyist, and her friends in media – NDTV group editor Barkha Dutt and Hindustan Times advisory editorial director Vir Sanghvi, which dwell on the telecom policies and choice of Congress ally DMK’s ministerial berths.

Replying to a question of the responsibility of the government to protect privacy, Tata told NDTV’s Walk The Talk programme hosted by journalist Shekhar Gupta :”I totally agree, government also has a responsibility; the agencies also have a responsibility.”

“They have been given a special right to be able to invade people’s privacy for national security or for enforcement of law, whatever it may be. So they can do so. That additional power is a very special power which has to be exercised with a sense of responsibility,” he said.

“The content needs to be held for prosecution purposes and not to be misused, and certainly not to go out to have a field day with. There doesn’t seem to be prosecution on one end and there doesn’t seem to be confidentiality on the other,” he said.

“Perhaps as things will emerge, not even knowledge of how it was disseminated, nor admission of even having conducted such telephone tapping. So we are going to be in a dead man’s zone on this, which I think is unfortunate.

Ratan Tata said a smokescreen is being framed to shadow the reality of the 2G scam, which is about allotment of specturm.

He said the media frenzy over the leakage of tapes featuring conversations between Niira Radia, the owner of a public relations agency, and prominent politicians, industrialists and journalists as a ?smokescreen? which was deflecting attention from bigger scandals.

Niira Radia, whose agency handles public relations for the Tata Group and Reliance Industries, has been questioned by the government agencies that are probing her alleged role in the award of a number of telecom licences in 2008.

The government?s chief auditor has said that these licences cost the exchequer Rs 1,76,000 crore because they were sold at prices set in 2001.

A Raja, who was the telecom minister when the permits were issued, was forced to step down earlier this month.

In the purported tapes, Vir Sanghvi allegedly was taking cue from Nira Radia to write against Anil Ambani of Reliance Group (telecom rival of the Tata group) in his weekly column in Hindustan Times while Barkha Dutt allegedly assured Radia to lobby with the Congress regarding portfolios of its ally DMK (which was holding telecom till A Raja was forced to resign over the 2G scam).

On Twitter and NDTV site, Barkha Dutt defending herself, said: “Amazed Angered and saddened at inability of some to distinguish between gathering info and ridiculous labels like lobbying/powerbroking.”

“Radia was a valid news source for DMK camp. She gave info on Karunanidhi, and sought my analysis on what Cong may do next. Valid journalism,” Dutt tweeted.