New Delhi: The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of a batch of petitions on the Pegasus issue to February 25 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, sought an adjournment.The matter was originally scheduled for February 23. Mehta has said was occupied with another matter on the date.The Hindu has reported that Mehta was “on his legs” before another bench of the court led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar. This hearing was on a batch of petitions challenging various provisions of a anti-money laundering law.Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana is understood to have directed Mehta to “please tell the others.”This will be the first time after October 27 last year, that the matter will be heard.On that date, the apex court had ordered the formation of a three-member panel of cyber experts – the Justice Raveendran committee – to probe the possibility of the Israeli spyware having been used for surveillance of certain people in India. The NSO Group, which sells the spyware, has said it only sells to “vetted governments”.Also read: Pegasus Project: 174 Individuals Revealed By The Wire On Snoop List So FarThe petitions were filed after an international media consortium, including The Wire, had reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.The panel under former Supreme Court judge Justice Raveendran comprised Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Prabaharan P and Ashwin Anil Gumaste.Justice Raveendran is assisted by former IPS officer Alok Joshi and Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman of Sub Committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/ International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee in monitoring the inquiry of the technical panel.The Supreme Court is likely to peruse and analyse the report which was filed by the committee.Since the SC formed the committee, the New York Times has reported and its reporter has told The Wire that the Indian leadership showed ‘specific interest’ in Pegasus, paid millions in 2017 for a ‘multi-year contract’ that allows Indian intelligence agencies to target up to 50 phones simultaneously with spyware attacks.A bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli had listed as many as 12 PILs, including the ones filed by Editors Guild of India and veteran journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, for hearing on February 23.In a significant verdict, a bench headed by the CJI had on October 27 last year ordered setting up of the panel saying mere invocation of national security by the state cannot render the judiciary a “mute spectator” and had asserted that indiscriminate spying on individuals in a democratic country cannot be allowed.(With PTI inputs)