Recommendation to form larger bench on petition against allowing phone tapping

Lahore: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday recommended the formation of a larger bench on a petition against the federal government's permission to sensitive institutions for phone tapping.

According to the details, Justice Farooq Haider of LHC heard the application of former Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Ghulam Sarwar.

The court sent the application to the Chief Justice of LHC for the formation of a larger bench. It wrote in its note that important legal points have been raised in the petition, in such a case a larger bench should be constituted to hear the case.

It is pertinent to note that on July 10, the authority of the federal government to allow a sensitive agency to tap phones was challenged in the Lahore High Court.

The petition took the position that the Government of Pakistan in a notification has allowed the sensitive agency to tap people's phones. The section of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Act under which the notification has been issued is yet to be enacted. The Constitution of Pakistan provides citizens with privacy, and freedom of expression.

It was further said that even according to the Indian Supreme Court, tapping people's phones is a violation of the Constitution.

In the petition, it was requested that the court should declare the notification of allowing phone tapping of the sensitive institution to be illegal. The process of the said notification should be suspended till the final decision of the petition.