Pegasus row: Nothing to hide, will make committee of experts, Govt tells SC

The Centre Monday told the Supreme Court there was nothing to hide in the alleged Pegasus snooping matter and it will constitute a committee of eminent experts to examine all the aspects related to the issueA bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana deliberated upon the aspect of whether the Centre which on Monday filed a short limited affidavit should file a detailed affidavit in the matterThe apex court will continue hearing on Tuesday a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the alleged surveillance of ceratin people in the country using the Israeli companys spywareSenior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar who have filed one of the petitions in the matter argued that the Centre should file an affidavit stating whether the government or its agencies have used PegasusSolicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose that the Pegasus issue would involve the aspect of national security and the matter is sensitiveWe are dealing with a sensitive matter and the attempt seems to be to make it sensationaliquest Mehta told the bench adding iquestThere would be an issue of national securityAt the outset Mehta told the bench that this issue is highly technical and expertise was needed to examine the aspectsThere is nothing to hide It needs examination by committee of experts This is a highly technical issue We will appoint eminent neutral experts from the field he saidSibal said the affidavit filed by the Centre does not say whether the government or its agencies had used the spywareWe do not want the government which might have used Pegasus or its agency might have used it to set up a committee on its own Sibal saidWhile contending that petitioners have relied upon news reports published by a web portal Mehta said iquestAccording to us a false narrative is creatediquestEarlier in the day the Centre filed an affidavit in the top court and said that a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations are based on conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reportsIn its affidavit the government said its position on the alleged Pegasus snooping has already been clarified in Parliament by IT Minister Ashwini VaishnawA bare perusal of the captioned petition and other connected petitions makes it clear that the same are based on conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material the affidavit saidWith a view to dispelling any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised the government will constitute a committee of experts it saidOn August 10 the top court had taken exception to parallel proceedings and debates on social media on the snooping row by some petitioners and said that there must be some discipline and they must have some faith in the systemThe apex court is hearing a batch of pleas including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matterThey are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSOs spyware PegasusAn international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spywareThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever