Centre informs Supreme Court of it's wish of not filing additional affidavit in Pegasus Row Snooping

On Monday, the Central Government told the Supreme Court that it does not wish to file a detailed affidavit regarding the Pegasus snooping row, citing that it was concerned over national security.

As per reports by ANI, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the issue cannot be made a subject matter of "judicial debate or public discourse" and hence cannot be stated in an affidavit.

• Mehta said that the government has "nothing to hide" and that is the reason, the Centre on its own would constitute a committee of domain experts who will look into these allegations. He (Mehta) also told the Bench that report of committee of domain experts will be made available to Supreme Court.

The Bench then informed Mehta that if the government re-thinks about filing a detail affidavit in the case, he can mention the matter before them.

"We are reserving order. We will pass some interim order. It will take two-three days. If you have some rethinking on this, you can mention the matter before us" said the Bench.

The Bench was hearing a batch of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the reports of the government allegedly using Israeli software, Pegasus to spy on politicians, Journalists and activists etc.