SC to Pass Order on Pegasus Tomorrow; Expert Committee to Be Finalised?

On 23 September, the SC had said that it is likely to set up a Technical Expert Committee to look into the row.

The Supreme Court is likely to set up a Technical Expert Committee to inquire into the alleged Pegasus snooping row, news agency ANI reported on Thursday, 23 September.

(Photo: Altered by Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

The Supreme Court will deliver an order on Wednesday, 27 October, in petitions seeking a court-monitored inquiry into the Pegasus snooping case.

The case has been listed before a CJI NV Ramana-led bench.

It is likely that that the Supreme Court will set up a Technical Expert Committee to probe the matter, as it had indicated on 23 September.

The chief justice had said this orally to senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, who is appearing in one of the Pegasus petitions. The CJI had said that the SC wanted to pass orders that week, but there was a delay as some members it had in mind for the committee expressed their inability to join owing to personal difficulties.

The SC will finalise the members of the committee soon, CJI Ramana had added.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR?

At the last hearing of the case, on 13 September, Ramana had told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Union government, that "beating around the bush" will not resolve the issue. The CJI was unhappy with the Centre's reluctance in submitting details of the alleged Pegasus snooping operation in an affidavit.

The government had told the Supreme Court it didn't wish to file a detailed affidavit on pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping, citing national security reasons.

A three-member bench, headed by CJI Ramana, during a hearing of the case on 7 September, had granted the Union government time to file a further response on the pleas.

The government, however, in the hearing on Monday, 20 September, expressed its refusal to share the affidavit, and instead prayed that a committee of domain experts should look into the petitions filed.

The Supreme Court reserved its interim orders on the petitions seeking an independent probe.