Supreme Court directive for phone tapping guidelines

The Supreme Court has asked the Union Government and Telecom Ministry to frame guidelines for phone tapping to ensure privacy of the citizens.

A division bench comprising justices A K Ganguly and G S Singhvi on Monday served notices to the Centre and Telecom ministry, responding to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) suit filed by a judicial practitioner.

Advocate Ravinder Kumar sought the apex court’s intervention demanding that interceptions by the government authorities, which were purely private in nature, be kept out of the ambit of tapping.

The Bench directed the matter to be tagged with the petition filed by industrialist Ratan Tata, which alleged that publication of his private conversations with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia tapes had infringed on his right to privacy.

Advocate Ravindra Kumar, in his petition prayed that there should be general guidelines and regulations for recording conversations concerning the safety and security of the country. At the same time personal conversations that would infringe on right to privacy of individuals should not be subjected to tapping, he said.