New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has said the report submitted by the central government, on how taped conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia were leaked, was unsatisfactory. The court also pulled up the government for not putting in place a mechanism to prevent such leaks. These observations came after the central government today rejected the allegation that the tapes were leaked from its side.
The court asked, "The moment you say leakage is not from your side, from where it has taken place? Who is responsible? Your report is hardly satisfactory."
The two judges hearing the case also observed, "Some of the intercepted transcript pertain to national security. When you say you are not responsible for the leakage, persons other than those connected with it might be involved. These persons will be possessing sensitive information. It is one thing to say so far (this) information has not been published. What is the guarantee that it will not be published in future or it hasn't been passed on to a foreign country? "
The court has directed the government to produce all the records relating to the interception of the Radia tapes by tomorrow.
On August 22, industrialist Ratan Tata had asked the Supreme Court for a copy of the report submitted by the government explaining how the Radia tapes were leaked. Mr Tata's conversations with corporate Ms Radia were among those carried by some magazines and their websites in 2010. Mr Tata then took the government to court arguing that the release of the tapes amounts to infringement of his right to privacy.
Mr Tata's lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, said in court last week that his client is not interested in claiming damages, but that he is entitled to information about the leak and that his goal is to "ensure that such a lackadaisical approach should not be taken by the government in future."
The two judges hearing the case, however, said, "You are enlarging your prayer by filing application seeking contents of the probe report." Mr Rohatgi said that the information in the report is crucial to the arguments he will make in Mr Tata's case.
The government gave its version of how the tapes ended up in the public domain in a report shared with the court nine months ago.
Ms Radia's phones were tapped between 2008-2009, allegedly by the Income Tax department, as part of an investigation into companies suspected of possible money laundering and tax evasion.