SC seeks details of actions on Amar Singh telephone tapping

New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) The Supreme Court today askedthe government to explain the action taken by it on the showcause notice issued to Reliance Infocomm for interceptingpolitician Amar Singh''s telephone five years ago.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly askedAttorney General G E Vahanvati to inform the court about thefollow-up action on government''s show cause notice issued toReliance Infocomm on December 31, 2005.

The bench also pulled up Reliance Infocomm for filinga "vague" affidavit on the issue of tapping Singh''s telephone.

It asked the company to bring original recordspertaining to the case, which had been given by Delhi Policefor probe.

During the hearing, the bench also expresseddispleasure over the manner in which various parties filed theaffidavit on Singh''s petition, filed in 2006, alleging tappingof his telephone by the government for "political reasons".

"We found that the affidavits were not in consonancewith the law," the bench said, adding it was a very seriousmatter but the officials were very casual in their approach.

The bench asked the Delhi government to place beforeit the status report on the probe into the case, detailing theprogress in the investigation.

It directed Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to askDelhi Police to file its affidavit in accordance with the lawand posted the matter for further hearing on February 9.

The petition filed by Amar Singh had raised the issueof "unauthorised" tapping of telephone and "cozy" relationsbetween the government and some telecom service providers.

During the hearing, the bench was informed bySubramanium that the conversation was tapped on the basis of a"forged" letter. Four persons were being prosecuted in thetrial in which examination of witnesses is on.