Industrialist Ratan Tata in an additional affidavit to the Supreme Court on Thursday blamed the government for its “failure” to protect his privacy while permitting its agencies to intercept the telephones of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and demanded the copy of income-tax department’s probe report in the 2G scam case, which also includes investigation into the Radia tapes.
A bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhyaya, while taking on record Mr Tata’s additional affidavit, directed the government to submit a reply on whether I-T department’s probe report, filed in a “sealed cover” could be shared with Mr Tata. Giving three weeks for the government to respond, the top court adjourned the hearing for March 27.
“This petition is directed against the abject failure of the government and its authorised functionaries to discharge their duty under the law and the Constitution to protect the right to privacy conferred upon the citizens under Article 21, especially by way of maintaining and ensuring the maintenance of secrecy and confidentiality with respect to the intercepted material, and taking appropriate action against those who have purloined it and then used for indiscriminate publication,” the affidavit by Mr Tata said.
He further said that his right to privacy also had been “violated” as the government agencies had not “adhered strictly” to the required safeguards spelt out under Rule 419 A of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1951 that had laid guidelines for protection of individual’s right while ordering interception of phones in certain exceptional circumstances.