Supreme Court puts proceedings on hold of Bengal s panel probing Pegasus snooping claims

Pinnacle Court bench led by the Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli put hold the proceedings of the two-member Lokur's panel commission set up by the West Bengal government to probe allegations of snooping using the Israeli Pegasus spyware. The counsel representing the West Bengal government, Abhishek Manu Sinhgvi, had on August 25 assured the apex court that the commission of inquiry headed by the retired Supreme Court judge Justice M.B. Lokur would not proceed with its investigations. However, in reality the commission did proceed with its probe issuing summons and hearing depositions of witnesses. Appearing for petitioner NGO 'Global Village Foundation Charitable Trust', senior advocates Harish Salve, Mahesh Jethmalani and Ravi Sharma said that the Commission secretary should be made a party to the proceedings and the apex court should seek response from it as to why it decided to proceed with the task when the SC is awaiting report from the expert panel. The top court issued notice to the Commission secretary and stayed further proceedings before it. The NGO had questioned the jurisdiction of a state-appointed commission to inquire into a pan-India issue. During the pendency of a bunch of petitions seeking SC-judge monitored SIT probe into the Pegasus controversy before the apex court, the Mamata Banerjee government's decision to set up Lokur Inquiry Commission on Pegasus issue was challenged before the court by the NGO, which termed the state's decision beyond jurisdiction and encroaching on Centre's domain. The Supreme Court has already appointed a committee led by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran in October to ‘expeditiously’ examine the Pegasus snooping reports. The West Bengal Government's move in July to appoint a Commission of Inquiry was first heard by the Supreme Court in August. At the time, the Supreme Court had only issued pre-admission notice to the Centre on August 17 on petitions seeking an independent inquiry into allegations that the Government used the Israeli-based spyware to snoop on journalists, activists, dissenters, parliamentarians, Ministers and other citizens. Mr. Singhvi said the State Government could not interfere in the working of the Commission of Inquiry, and it was now up to the Supreme Court to pass any formal orders for the commission. This led the court to implead the commission, issue notice and order the stay of further proceedings. An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.