SC will set up expert panel on Pegasus row

Terms to be revealed in order next week as some experts unable to join committee over ‘personal difficulties’

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will set up an expert committee by itself to inquire into the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus for surveillance on Indian citizens, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said on Thursday.

The CJI’S statement suggests that the court has virtually rejected the Union government’s plea to let it set up an “independent committee” to look into the controversy.

Justice Ramana, who heads the bench which has been hearing a clutch of petitions demanding a court-monitored investigation into the unlawful snooping, added that the order will be passed next week.

“We were expected to pass the order this week but it got delayed because some of the members of the technical expert team we contacted expressed personal difficulties in being part of the committee. That is why it is taking time. But we will be able to finalise the members of the committee soon. You please inform the other lawyers too that we will pass the order next week,” justice Ramana told senior advocate CU Singh, who represents one of the petitioners, during the hearing of an unconnected matter.

Singh replied in the affirmative. But CJI Ramana did not elaborate on the terms of references of the proposed committee and the areas that it will look into. The detailed order, which is now expected next week, will specify those aspects.

Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed the court’s decision. “On behalf of all progressive parties, I welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to set up a committee to investigate the Pegasus snooping scam. Given its grave national security and privacy implication, every Indian hopes for an efficient and transparent probe,” Kharge said in a tweet.

The court, on September 13, reserved its order in the case after the Union government said that it could not make public whether its agencies used the Israeli spyware as such disclosure will be against national interest. With this statement, the government returned to a position it articulated on August 17, before suggesting on September 7 that it could reconsider its stand.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said the use of a particular software “cannot be made a part of the public discourse in the larger national interest and in the interest of the security of the nation”.

The SG requested the bench to allow the government to set up an expert committee.