SC seeks govt reply to Tata plea
Bandwidth scam: Magazines which published tapes to be made parties
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to respond within 10 days to the petition filed by industrialist Ratan Tata on the “Nira Radia tapes”.
The government deposited the recorded tapes, which contain conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others relating to the 2G spectrum allocation and formation of the UPA government, to the apex court Bench in a sealed cover.
A Bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly that heard the case filed by the NGO
Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), issued notices to Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, the CBI, the Income Tax Department and the Finance Ministry asking them to file an affidavit on the issue and posted the matter for further hearing for December 13.
The court also directed that the two magazines that published the conversations— “Open” and “Outlook” — be made parties to the petition by Tata and issued notices to them.
Appearing for various government departments, Attorney General G E Vahanvati accepted notices on their behalf. During the hearing, the Bench said the issues raised in the petition should not be left to academic exercise. Although Harish Salve, representing Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, said he did not want any injunction against the media, the Bench remarked: “We will hear them (two magazines). We will also hear the attorney general who is appearing in the matter. We are not in a hurry.” The petition filed by Tata has not made the two magazines as the parties.
Salve said the petition raises a matter of immense importance—the interpretation of Article 21 of the Constitution concerning right to life, which also includes the right to privacy.
He said Tata has not challenged the rights of recording by the statutory authority nor has he challenged the use of transcript by the probe agencies.
“My concern is that the audio content of personal conversation should not be put into public domain,” Salve submitted.
In his petition, Tata has sought action against those involved in the leakage of the tapes, pointing out that such an act amounts to the infringement of his Fundamental Right to Life, which includes his right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Earlier, while placing the recorded conversation before the Bench, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that it was a hard disc drive directly downloaded from the server which contains the conversations.
However, advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for CPIL said though the CBI maintains that there were 5,800 conversations, it has prepared the transcript of only 3,000 such conversations.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the original tapes containing the conversation between Radia and others pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation case be handed over to it in a sealed cover.
