Radia tapes leak being examined, apex court told

NEW DELHI - The government Friday told the Supreme Court that it was taking every step to ensure that there were no leaks of the telephone conversations of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia in the 2G spectrum scam and that the leaks to the media were being examined.

The government’s assurance came in response to Tata Group chairman Ratan Tatas petition seeking enforcement of his right to privacy by restraining the media from publishing the transcripts of the Radia tapes. However, the apex court was told that the publication could not be stopped.

The tapping of Radias phone was sanctioned by the government and the “leaking to media was being looked into”, the central government’s affidavit said, adding “never in the past had any electronic intercepts made by the Income Tax Department appeared in the media”.

“Nevertheless an inquiry into this matter is in progress and on the basis of the material which is available, there is no reason to believe that the telephone intercepts have been leaked from the Income Tax Department,” it said.

The affidavit reiterated that the “secrecy and security (of telephonic intercepts) have been maintained along with integrity and safety of the data in electronic form have been ensured through proper checks in the system through which the recordings have taken place”.

“Income Tax Department has no powers with regards to the service providers and if it is established that any service provider was responsible for the unauthorized supply of the information, the Ministry of Telecommunication or any other competent authority will have to take further action,” the affidavit said.

Referring to Tata’s prayer seeking to restrain the publication of the transcripts, the government said this could not be stopped.

“Its not possible or practical for the government to take steps to retrieve the various copies of some of the transcripts which have appeared in the print media or in the electronic media and which are being circulated on the internet,” the affidavit said.

Tata has sought orders restraining the publication of the transcripts of the 5,851 telephonic conversations that Radia had with different people including politicians, bureaucrats and journalists in the course of the grant of licences for 2G spectrum.

During the hearing on the petition Dec 2, an apex court bench of Justice G.S.Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly was told that Tata was not challenging the right of the statutory agencies to intercept and record the telephonic conversations but making those audios public was certainly a matter of personal concern.

The court was told that all the information could be put in a filter so that conversations which are strictly personal in nature are not released in the public domain.

The reputation of Ratan Tata was of a great value not only to him but even for the commercial organization under the banner of the Tata Group of Companies, the court was told.

The petition said that any dent in the commercial standing of the Tata Groups companies, which are listed on the stock market, would hurt the interest of the investors who have stakes in these companies.

The matter will come up for hearing on Dec 13.