The West Bengal government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a two-member Inquiry Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur to investigate the Pegasus snooping case, will not go ahead with the probe till the court hears the bunch of pleas on the issue.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana tagged the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Commission of Inquiry by the West Bengal government with other pleas pending before the top court on Pegasus controversy and said that it will be taken up together next week. “Please maintain restraint as we are already hearing the Pegasus matter”, the Bench told Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the West Bengal government.
The apex court said, “As present issue is connected to other issues, in all fairness we expect you can wait. We will hear about the matter sometime next week. Those matters (pleas seeking inquiry on alleged used of Pegasus spyware by the government) are likely to have pan-India impact…”
The Bench said that next week it would pass a comprehensive order, in the meantime, if the state government started an inquiry, then it would have to pass an order.