Radia tapes: Tata questions 'lackadaisical' attitude of Centre - 0 views
-
gibreel ferishta on 12 Jan 11Industrialist Ratan Tata has questioned in the Supreme Court the lackadaisical attitude of the Centre in allowing free distribution and publication of his private conversations with lobbyist Nira Radia recorded by the Directorate General of Income Tax without taking any steps to retrieve the stored material or to find out the source of leakage. Mr. Tata, who filed a writ petition alleging that the publication of the tapes had infringed his right to privacy, in his supplementary affidavit said that the power of the law enforcement agencies to record telephone conversations itself "constitutes a serious encroachment upon the right of privacy guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution." He made it clear that the present petition was not designed to somehow keep back from publication any conversation to which he allegedly was a party for any oblique purpose. It was filed to seek redress of a wholesale violation of the constitutional rights of a large number of persons, including the petitioner and including a host of corporate entities by the indiscriminate publication of wiretrap material procured by questionable means.