Whether govt bought Pegasus or used it: Supreme Court seeks Centre's response

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to bring on record a detailed affidavit addressing the contentions of petitioners whether the government bought Pegasus or used it or if it wasnt used at allThe Centre had informed the top court that to dispel any wrong narrative spread it will constitute a committee of experts in the field which will go into all aspects of the issue A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana asked the Centre to furnish a detailed affidavit with the information on whether Pegasus was used or notJustice Ramana told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre The petitioners want to know whether the government had bought or used Pegasus If not then what steps the government took to inquire into the alleged illegal interceptions using Pegasus said the Chief Justice and added if Mehta wants to file a detailed affidavit he can take timeMehta submitted that the government has nothing to hide and the expert committee may go into whether Pegasus was used or not and also all other aspects He added that there are unsubstantiated media reports We are dealing with a sensitive matter but an attempt is being made to make it sensational This matter will have national security implications said MehtaThe Chief Justice said We are not saying anything against the government That is not the issue Reacting on the scope of the committee to examine the Pegasus issue the Chief Justice added there are areas which the committee can go into while some they cant and further queried Mehta how will the committee examine the aspect of procurement of PegasusMehta replied the top court may lay down the terms of reference of the committee We have nothing to hide said Mehta He further added that if lordship approves a committee can be constituted of neutral experts and not government officersAlso Read Pegasus row Nothing to hide will constitute committee of experts Centre tells SCSenior advocate Kapil Sibal representing journalist N Ram argued that the government should say whether it used Pegasus or not That will not reveal any national security issue said Sibal The Chief Justice replied that if the government is reluctant and they dont want to file an affidavit how do we compel themSibal contended Let them say that then we can argue the other issues In that case the matter gets even more serious because they are not denying it he addedThe Chief Justice told Mehta to tell the court by Tuesday whether the government wants to file another detailed affidavit in the matter and scheduled the matter for further hearing on Tuesday The Centre in a twopage affidavit submitted in the top court that with a view to dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised it will constitute a committee of experts in the field which will go into all aspects of the issueThe top court is hearing a batch of petitions seeking various directions which includes an SIT probe a judicial inquiry and directions to the government to reveal details about whether it had used the Pegasus software to spy on citizensThis 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