Govt follows proper procedure in tapping telephones: Home Secy

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The government today said itfollows a proper procedure in ordering interception oftelephones and a high-level committee reviews each caseindividually before giving its final approval.

Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said all theinterception of phones as well as e-mails follow theprescribed procedures and the judgement of the Supreme Courtand the rules laid down under the Telegraph Act.

"We not only have the Union Home Secretary and state HomeSecretaries authorising the interception of telephones, wealso have an oversight committee which is headed by theCabinet Secretary with Law Secretary and the Telecom Secretary(as its members)," he said on the sidelines of a functionhere.

Pillai said the committee looks after each of the orderpassed by the Union Home Secretary or in case of the state bythe state Home Secretary.

"They verify whether the orders were passed as per thelaw," he said.

On an average 6,000 to 8,000 telephones are being tappedby various agencies at any given time after taking permissionfrom the Union Home Secretary. Besides, around 10,000 moretelephones are intercepted by state governments, Pillai hadrecently said.

Pillai''s comments came a day after the affidavit ofReliance Infocomm before the Supreme Court saying that in 2005in Delhi, 3588 phones were intercepted by the company. Between2006 and 2010, the company intercepted 1.51 lakh telephonesacross India.