Amid uproar over the issue of telephone tapping of senior political leaders, the Centre on Monday rubbished the charge in 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," Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Lok Sabha.
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'.
"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.
"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.
"Such monitoring, as may be necessary to fight crime, for national security or for counter-terrorism effort, is subject to multiple checks and oversight," Chidambaram said.
