Turmoil in Parliament on phone tapping, Govt rubbishes charge

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Amid uproar over the issue of
telephone tapping of senior political leaders, the Indian
Government Monday rubbished the charge in Indian Parliament
asserting that it had not authorised any such action.
"I wish to state categorically that no telephone tapping
or eavesdropping on political leaders was authorised by the
previous UPA government. Nor has the present UPA government
authorised any such activity," India's Home Minister P
Chidambaram said in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian
Parliament).
He said the report in 'Outlook' magazine on phone tapping
was thoroughly enquired into and "nothing has been found in
the records of the NTRO (National Technical Research
Organisation) to substantiate the allegations."
While Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian
Parliament) adjourned till 1200 noon soon after assembling for
the day following opposition uproar on the issue, the Upper
House was again adjourned till 1230 hours and the Lower House
till 1400 hours on the issue.
"Further enquiries are being made into the allegations in
the magazine. If any evidence is forthcoming or discovered,
the matter will be thoroughly investigated by the appropriate
agencies," the Home Minister said.
The news weekly has alleged in an article that the phones
of India's Union Minister Sharad Pawar, Congress leader
Digvijay Singh, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)
leader Prakash Karat and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had
been tapped.
In the Rajya Sabha, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) vehemently demanded setting up of a Joint Parliamentary
Committee, with senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu demanding that
the Prime Minister should make a statement on the matter.
When Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs
Prithviraj Chavan said the Home Minister could make a
statement on the issue, Naidu said, "It is a very serious
issue. The phones of not only cabinet ministers, but Chief
Ministers and political leaders are being tapped."
The House was adjourned amid unabated slogan-shouting to
demand setting up of JPC.
In the Lok Sabha, the Home Minister, who made the
statement when the opposition members stormed the well raising
slogans on the issue as also on the IPL controversy, said at
the outset that government has seen the allegations against
the NTRO.
"It is a technical organisation of the government....The
organisation was notified on April 15, 2004," he said.
Asserting that intelligence agencies functioned within the
law, he said they are "fully accountable" to the government.
Under the Telegraph Act and the IT Act, each case of
monitoring of telephones or electronic communications has to
be approved by the Union Home Secretary personally and is
subject to review by an oversight committee chaired by the
Cabinet Secretary. (More) PTI ARC
MRD


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