Pegasus row | Solicitor-General seeks postponement of hearing
The Hindu
Tushar Mehta cites money laundering case before another Bench
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta on Tuesday made an urgent plea before the Chief Justice of India for postponement of the Pegasus case hearing, primarily on an interim report submitted by the court's technical committee examining allegations of the government using the Israeli military grade software to spy on citizens.
Appearing before Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, the top law officer urged the court to adjourn the case, originally scheduled for February 23, to February 25.
Mr. Mehta said he was "on his legs" before another Bench of the court led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar in a batch of petitions challenging various provisions of an anti-money laundering case.
The Solicitor-General said he would start his submissions before Justice Khanwilkar's Bench in the next few hours.
"Please inform the others," Chief Justice Ramana told Mr. Mehta.
The Pegasus case was listed for hearing on February 23 almost four months after the court set up the technical committee monitored by former Supreme Court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran, on October 27 last year in a 46-page order. This committee has submitted an interim report to the court.
The 12 Pegasus petitions, including one by senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, were listed before a three-judge Bench of the CJI, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chikkaballapura district.