The Delhi High Court (HC) has asked TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) not to furnish any details regarding call tapping under the RTI proceedings. As per the HC, authorised officers can only give call-tapping orders. Thus, if the order to tap a phone number has come from the authorities, it is done only in the interest of India's national security or to prevent a crime. If those details are given to the public, it can interfere with the ongoing investigations, which is not good in the interest of India.
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Lawyer Kabir Shankar Bose had filed an RTI application to get details about whether his phone was being tapped. Bose wanted details about the tapping if it was happening. When TRAI declined to offer the details as per policies, Bose moved to the Central Information Commission (CIC) which then asked TRAI to give details about the alleged tapping. However, TRAI contested the decision by CIC at the Delhi High Court and the court maintains that details around phone tapping can't be furnished by the regulatory body or the telecom operator to the public, said a report from TheTribuneIndia.
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Vodafone Idea is the telecom operator that declined Bose's request. The details around call tappings can't be given to customers or posted in public forums as they are a matter of national security. Thus, no person can ask for such details even leveraging the RTI act.
Further, if TRAI were to be given the power to collect details about call tapping from the telecom operators and give them to the customers, TRAI would have the ability to interfere with the operations of telcos. That wouldn't be in line with what TRAI's purpose is. Call tappings can only be ordered by high-authority people in the government or the police force.
