Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Thursday said the Supreme Court would pass orders next week on the constitution of an “expert committee” to probe allegations that the government had used the Israeli spyware Pegasus to illegally snoop on citizens.
The court’s decision implies a prima facie finding that there might be some substance to the allegations and an inference that only an independent probe can establish the truth.
Justice Ramana said the court would have passed the order this week but had to postpone it to next week because some of the prospective members for the proposed committee it wanted involved had expressed inability to take up the task citing personal reasons.
There was no hearing of the Pegasus case on Thursday. Justice Ramana conveyed the decision during the morning mentioning time in open court, while sitting on a bench that included Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
“Mr C.U. Singh, I wanted to tell you that on this Pegasus case, we wanted to pass this week some orders appointing a committee. But we could not pass the orders because many of the members who we had in our mind said they cannot participate due to personal reasons,” he told senior lawyer Singh.
Singh represents some among the batch of more than two dozen petitioners who have sought a court-monitored special investigation team (SIT) probe into allegations of Pegasus-enabled snooping on judges, lawyers, activists, journalists and others. He was in the court on Thursday in connection with a different matter.
Justice Ramana did not elaborate on the composition, nature or contours of the committee. The committee is expected to include a few information technology experts and possibly a retired Supreme Court judge.
The court decision comes after the Centre refused to file a fresh affidavit either admitting or denying the allegations of illegal surveillance through Pegasus — a point its earlier two-page affidavit did not clarify. The Centre has claimed it cannot file the fresh affidavit because making the matter public would hurt national security.
On September 13, the apex court had given the government three days to reconsider its decision, failing which it said it would pass the necessary orders.
“Mr Mehta, beating around the bush is not the question here…. You have two-three days, Mr Mehta; if you have any rethinking you can mention before this court,” Justice Ramana had told solicitor-general Tushar Mehta on September 13.
“We are not interested to know about national interest issues but we are only (interested in the matter) in the face of allegations that some software was used to snoop on certain citizens like lawyers, etc. We wanted to know if it’s done and, if so, to see if it is permissible under law….”
Justice Ramana had added: “You have been repeatedly saying that you don’t want to put anything on affidavit. We also don’t want security issues to be put here. Presumably a committee has to be formed and then the report will be submitted here. Now we have to look into the whole issue and decide something. Then everything will be in public.”