Apex court pulls up government in Amar Singh phone-tap case
By IANSWednesday, February 2, 2011
NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Wednesday pulled up the government, Delhi Police, a telecom operator and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh for filing “very casual and vague” affidavits and asked them to file these afresh in the former Samajwadi Party leader’s phone tapping case.
The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly said casual and vague affidavits have been filed by all on such a serious issue.
“It is a very serious issue and all the affidavits have been filed in a very casual manner,” the court said.
The court asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to file a status report on a case in trial court relating to criminal conspiracy in tapping Amar Singh’s phone.
Appearing for petitioner Amar Singh, senior counsel Harish Salve said that though Delhi Police have washed their hands of the case by claiming that the letter that formed the basis for tapping Singh’s phone was forged, his right to privacy had been breached. This could not be overlooked, Salve said.
He said that the central government was under constitutional mandate to protect his client’s right to privacy. He said telecom operators were working under its (central government’s) licence.
“A service provider who was working under the statutory authority was bound by the statute. There was a cosy relationship between the government and the service provider,” Salve told the court.
The court chided counsel for the telecom operator for not furnishing the full record. The court said that as per the affidavit, “there is a record. Show us the record”.
Justice Ganguly asked: “Which agency has requested (you) to tap the phone?”
Justice Ganguly asked how the service provider could tap a phone on the request of police whereas procedurally it was done on the sanction by union home secretary. Justice Ganguly said the “affidavit of the service provider was very vague”.
When Salve said, “What happens to my right? I have been defamed”, the court told him to go to the criminal court.
The court said: “The question is who defamed you. The government is (ruled) out, after denying its involvement in the matter.”
The case relates to Amar Singh’s phone tapping, which created a furore in political circle. Singh alleged that he was the target of political vendetta.
The apex court took up the hearing in the case, which was stayed in 2006, following an application by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) for vacation of the stay and permitting Amar Singh tapes to be brought into in public domain.
Senior counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the CPIL, said that everything in the tapes that concerns the dirty tricks to influence the governance in the country should be made public.
He said it was people’s right to know the manner in which they were being governed.
The matter will come up for hearing Feb 9.
