Govt restraint on phone-tapping

The move comes after a Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, had recommended that the CBDT be taken off the list of agencies which can file phone-tapping requests as tax evasion cases have no criminal liability, nor have any national security issue as these were only civil matters.

The whole exercise is part of the the government’s effort to tighten the norms for authorised telephone interception after the leakage of transcripts and tapes of lobbyist Niira Radia.