The Cabinet Secretary Mr. K. M. Chandrasekhar has said that interception of telephones without public emergency or public safety at stake is not in accordance with law. He said this has also been interpreted by the Supreme Court while dealing with several such cases. Mr. Chandrasekhar has recommended for providing stronger penal provisions by amending the law to stop misuse of phone tapping. According to a statement by the Cabinet Secretariat, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had asked him to look into rules, procedures and mechanism to avoid the misuse of phone tapping.
Mr. Chandrasekhar in his recommendations has called for either removing Central Board of Direct Taxes from the list of authorised agencies for telephone interception as Income Tax laws fall within the civil jurisdiction and do not always impeach the public safety or to specify stipulations regarding the extent of surveillance allowed to the agency.
It has clarified that law does not permit use of telephone tapping and monitoring of conversations to merely direct tax evasion and there are specific laws and rules that contain provisions for detection of unaccounted wealth and evasion of taxes. The statement comes in the wake of a number of write ups and articles in the media on the issue.
Courtesy : AIR
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