The telephone tapping row between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Thursday took another turn with the Supreme Court directing the Cellular Operators Association to deposit a sealed cover with the call data to a district court.
Telecom service provider Idea Cellular and Airtel had approached the Supreme Court for relief after a court in Vijayawada had ordered them to provide the records of the telephone tapping at the behest of Telangana government.
But Telangana had made a counter-threat to the service providers to sue them if they release the documents. Supreme Court Bench comprising Justice Vikramjit Sen and SK Singh on Thursday issued the orders that the telecom service providers will have to comply with the lower court orders. However, it accepted the plea of the companies for more time and granted a week’s time to comply with its orders.
At the same time, the Supreme Court also asked the Vijayawada court not to open the sealed cover for three more weeks and adjourn the hearing for one month.
The Bench observed that it understood the seriousness of the issue and allowed all the parties to approach Hyderabad High Court as and when required. The telecom service providers, who have a presence in both the States, found themselves caught in the cross-firing between the two Governments ever since TV channels in Telangana aired the telephonic conversation allegedly between AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and a member of Telangana Assembly.
While the Telangana Government alleged that Naidu had attempted to lure the nominated MlA, the AP Government alleged that Naidu’s phone was tapped by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Andhra Police had questioned the representatives of 12 telecom companies. later, the court in Vijayawada issued orders to the telecom companies to hand over the call data by July 24.