NEW DELHI, Aug 16:
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that petitions seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations are based on “conjectures, surmises” and unsubstantiated media reports and a group of experts will examine all issues raised.
In an affidavit filed before a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, the government said its position on the alleged Pegasus snooping has already been clarified in Parliament by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
“A 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 said.
With a view to dispelling any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and examining the issues raised, the government will constitute a committee of experts, it said.
“It is, however, submitted that with a view to dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised, the Union of India will constitute a Committee of Experts in the field which will go in to all aspects of the issue,” the two-page short-affidavit of government said.
The affidavit filed by additional secretary, in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said, “At the outset, it is submitted that I hereby unequivocally deny any and all of the allegations made against the Respondents in the captioned petition and other connected petitions”.
It said that due to the limited time at the disposal of the government, it was not possible to deal with all the facts stated and the contentions raised in the batch of petitions before this Court and therefore, filed a limited affidavit at this stage while reserving liberty to file further affidavit hereafter in detail.
“It is submitted that this question stands already clarified on the floor of the Parliament by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology of India, Government of India,” the affidavit said, adding, “in that view of the matter, in the respectful submission of the deponent, nothing further needs to be done at the behest of the Petitioner, more particularly when they have not made out any case”.
The top court is hearing a batch of pleas, including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India, seeking independent probe into the alleged surveillance of eminent people including journalists by using the Israeli spyware.
On 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 system”. (PTI)
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