Supreme Court likely to set up expert committee to look into Pegasus snooping allegations

An expert committee to probe the allegations of snooping on journalists and others using the Pegasus spyware is likely to be set up by the Supreme Court, and orders will be passed next week, LiveLaw reported today.

Some members of the technical committee had expressed "personal difficulties" in being part of it, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said. As a result, he said, the orders were taking time but the committee would be finalised soon and the orders will be passed next week.

While the Pegasus matter was not listed today, these comments were made orally by the chief justice to senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, who is the lawyer for one of the petitioners in the Pegasus case, while he was making a mention in another matter.

The Supreme Court reserved its interim order on the matter on September 13, after the central government expressed its unwillingness to file an affidavit regarding the Pegasus scandal, citing “national security.”

Petitioners in the case include the Editors Guild of India, advocate ML Sharma, CPIM parliamentarian John Brittas, professor and activist Jagdeep Chokkar, and journalists N Ram, Sashi Kumar, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh, and Ipsa Shataksh.