- Sunday, November 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Supreme Court of India on Thursday (23) said that it will set up a technical expert committee to probe into the Pegasus snooping controversy and pass an interim order next week over a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the entire issue.
The apex court’s observations on setting up the committee is a key move in view of the Narendra Modi government’s statement that it would set up an expert panel on its own to address the grievances of the alleged surveillance of certain eminent Indians by hacking their phones using Pegasus, an Israeli spyware.
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A bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana, which was to hear some other matter, addressed senior lawyer CU Singh that the order will be pronounced next week.
“We wanted to pass an order this week,” Ramana said, adding it had to be deferred as some members of the technical committee, which the court wanted, expressed “personal difficulties” in becoming part of it.
“That is why it is taking time to constitute the committee,” the CJI said.
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“We will be able to finalise the members of the technical expert team by next week and then pronounce our orders,” he added.
The CJI also told Singh that he conveyed this to him as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had argued for senior journalists N Ram and Shashi Kumar who moved the court over the controversy, has not been seen in courts for the last few days.
“I will inform Sibal,” Singh told the bench which then proceeded with the hearing in other listed cases.
The apex court, while reserving its interim order on September 13, said that it will be pronouncing an order in a few days and had asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to mention the case if the government has a re-think about filing a detailed affidavit.
The bench said that it only wants to know from the government whether Pegasus was used to allegedly spy on individuals and if it was done lawfully after the latter showed its unwillingness to file a detailed affidavit citing national security.
The pleas seeking an independent probe are related to reports that the government agencies allegedly snooped on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Pegasus.
An international media consortium reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were potential targets for surveillance.
(With PTI inputs)
