Government refuses to give details of phone tapping 2012-08-05
An RTI activist told us he learned that his phone was being tapped and this website thought he was just being paranoid. Now PTI reports that on Friday August 3, the Goa government refused to give details of phone tapping permission given by competent authorities in last four months in the state. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar responding to a question by Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco on the floor of the House, said that disclosure of such information is prejudicial to public interest. Lourenco had also sought the information on the reasons for phone tapping. Parrikar said that under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 section 5 (2) empowers the government to intercept messages on occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of the public safety. "The central government or a state government or any officer authorities by these governments may intercept messages in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence," the chief minister added. The previous government too refused to divulge details of its telephone tapping. Central and State Governments are authorised to tap telephones/intercept conversations under certain circumstances, stipulated in Section 5 (2) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1855. However, earlier, no rules or guidelines were framed by the Government for this and so the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996. The Supreme Court held that the “right to hold a telephone conversation in the privacy of one’s home or office without interference can certainly be claimed as the ‘right to privacy’. Conversations on the telephone are often of an intimate and confidential character… The right to privacy would certainly include telephone-conversation in the privacy of one’s home or office. Telephone tapping would, thus, infarct Article 21 of the Constitution of India unless it is permitted under the procedure established by law.” In 1996 the Supreme Court directed that orders for telephone tapping shall have effect initially for a period of two months. After which period a renewal would have to be applied for. Also the tapping could not continue for longer than 180 days. The Supreme Court also directed that a Review Committee be set up which included the Chief Secretary, the Law Secretary and another secretary nominated by the Chief Secretary. In Goa the Chief Secretary is also the Home Secretary so he would merely be reviewing his own orders to tap an individual's phone. And since the third member of the Review Committee is his own nominee, the Law Secretary would be outvoted in any case. http://www.targetgoa.com/newsd-Government-refuses-to-give-details-of-phone-tapping-4063
