New Delhi, Jan. 3 (PTI): The government today informed the Supreme Court that new guidelines and rules to prevent illegal interception of telephonic messages have been drafted and may be notified within two months.

This was stated by solicitor general G.E. Vahanvati before a bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice C.K. Thakker during the hearing of a petition filed by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh seeking the framing of guidelines. Singh had filed the petition after his controversial conversations with some politicians and others were reportedly tapped.

The government had decided to review the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, keeping in view technological development and the entry of more players in the field.

The court had issued notices to all telecom service providers, including MTNL, BSNL, VSNL, Reliance Infocomm, Idea Cellular, Tata Indicom, Bharti Televentures Ltd and Hutchison Essar Ltd, on the issue.

The solicitor general told the court that most of the operators have agreed to the draft guidelines and rules regarding message interception.

The apex court’s 1996 guidelines permit tapping only in emergencies like threats to national security.

Meanwhile, Reliance Infocomm said in its affidavit that due process was followed while intercepting Singh’s telephonic messages but the authorisation letter for it was forged. It stated that it facilitated the tapping “only in accordance with the provisions of law and pursuant to instructions/directions received from law enforcement agencies”.