Wednesday, January 11 2006 13:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Under growing opposition attack on the phone tapping issue, the Centre today (Jan 11,2006)said in view of the spurt in information and telecom technologies, it was feeling the need for more effective laws to tackle the problem.

"There are laws to deal with phone tapping. But in this age of liberalisation and globalisation, when IT and telecom sectors are growing at such a rapid pace, the scope of crimes such as this is also increasing," Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters here.

"We are beginning to feel the need for more effective laws to deal with the problem," the Minister added.

Jaiswal also asserted that the Government had no hand in the alleged phone tapping of opposition leaders.

"People are levelling charges against the government. But the Government has no hand in any phone tapping. Some private agency is involved, and it is no doubt a crime," he said.

There has been a barrage of allegations by political leaders of their phones being tapped, starting with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.