Dec. 2: Admitting industrialist Ratan Tata’s petition for probe into the “leak” of the ‘Radia tapes’ recorded by the Income Tax department in connection with investigation of the tax frauds, the Supreme Court on Thursday, made media organisations — Outlook and Open magazines — which published the transcripts, parties to the case.
The SC, which also issued notices to the Centre, IT DG, and the CBI set the next hearing for December 13.
The two magazines were included after a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly asked Mr Tata’s counsel Harish Salve why the media organisations were left out of the list of respondents if Tata wanted a thorough probe into the leak. Mr Salve said his client’s “personal” conversations with Nira Radia, the corporate lobbyist, had been put in public domain though it had nothing to do with any public cause. “If he expresses his dislike for dinner parties, should it be published? It amounts to violation of his privacy,” he said.
“The IT department had claimed that they had recorded 5,000 hours conversation. We are concerned about what has not been published,” he said.