Ratan Tata files petition in SC on tapes leakout

New Delhi : Tata Group’s Chairman Ratan Tata on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the Nira Radia tapes containing intercepts of his conversation with her on the ground that they allegedly violated his privacy.

In the petition, Tata has asked the Centre to probe the leak of the tapes and take action accordingly, the Economic Times said.

Tata’s move followed the publication of taped conversation of its corporate communications official, which he said was a violation of right to privacy.

Tata had said his company 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 on 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 tapes, which are widely available, feature conversations between Tata and Radia in which the head of India’s largest conglomerate appears to express his discomfiture at the prospect of Dayanidhi Maran, a politician from Tamil Nadu’s DMK Party, becoming minister.

The phone conversations of Radia were originally tapped by the government as part of an investigation into tax evasion.

Tata Group’s Tata Teleservices, along with other telecom companies, are being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates violation of foreign exchange laws.