Radia tapes: Ratan Tata appears in Supreme Court
21 Aug 2013
Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, today attended a hearing in the Supreme Court over the Niira Radia tapes.
The Supreme Court is hearing a public interest petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), seeking that the tapes of phone-taps by Indian authorities be made public.
Tata himself had filed a petition in the court seeking a stay on the publication of conversations between him and Radia, on the ground that his privacy had been invaded and personal phone conversations should not be dragged into the public domain.
Apart from CPIL, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also sought placing on record 62 conversations between Radia and various industrialists, politicians and journalists. The CBI claimed that it has already submitted transcripts of 12 of those conversations.
The Supreme Court had, on 4 August, held that these tapes were not private conversations and indeed had an element of criminality. The SC had also pulled up the government for sitting on these tapes for five years and not taking any action.
The apex court has fixed 21 August for the next hearing on the matter.
