It was scheduled to discuss Pegasus snooping charges

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) chairman and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has asked Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take action against officials of three Ministries for “last-minute refusal” to attend a panel meeting on July 28. The panel was to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss several issues, including the Pegasus snooping allegations.

In his letter to Birla,  Tharoor said just before the meet, he was informed by the committee branch of the secretariat that e-mail communications have been received on July 28 afternoon from the three Ministries/departments that their representatives would not be able to appear before the committee.

Tharoor said the Home Ministry forwarded their mail at 2:33 pm, Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY) at 2:44 pm, and the Telecommunications Department at 2:52 pm.

Detailing the sequence of events, he said in his letter that MeitY sought exemption from appearance stating the chairperson of the joint committee on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, has desired to have an urgent meeting with the secretary and other senior officers of MeitY for discussion/clarification on Bill at 3:45 pm in the chairman’s chamber.

The Ministry of Home Affairs sought exemption on account of urgent and pressing commitments related to the ensuing Parliament Session, Tharoor’s letter read.

Similar communication was received from the Department of Telecommunications that it will not be possible for the secretary to appear before the committee due to an urgent Parliament-related matter.  Tharoor said as chairperson of the panel he did not excuse these witnesses from attendance.

Secretaries of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Electronics and Information Technology, and the Department of Telecommunications, who were summoned to discuss the alleged use of Pegasus malware for snooping, expressed their inability to attend the meeting. It is rare for officials to skip a meeting like this.

However, the meeting could not take place as the BJP members of the panel did not sign the attendance register, even though they were present in the meeting room, leading to a lack of quorum. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a clarification claiming that it had informed the IT panel on July 23 about the non-availability of officials for the meeting.

Tharoor said the notice informing the members of the committee for the sitting was issued on July 20 and the Ministries/department concerned were also informed on that day and all the three Ministries/department had confirmed their participation.

“The last-minute refusal of the Ministries/department to appear before the committee has been unprecedented and clearly constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege and contempt of the House. Besides, this has undermined the authority of a Parliamentary the committee,” Tharoor said.