The Gujarat High Court on Friday scrapped the ‘snoopgate’ panel set up by the State government to probe into the alleged spying on a woman architect by the State machinery.
Justice Paresh Upadhyay set aside the Gujarat government’s notification for the Commission of inquiry headed by Justice Sugnya Bhatt in response to a joint petition filed by the woman and her father.
The court accepted their plea that the inquiry violated their right to privacy and since the matter under consideration did not involve public interest, the Commission was unwarranted.
“Section 3 of The Commissions of Inquiry Act empowers the government to appoint a panel when an issue related to public importance is involved. I contended before the court that if my (client’s) privacy is blown up by the media, I become the aggrieved person. This matter is not of a public issue. I have stated before the State and Central women’s Commissions that my rights were not violated by the action of the State. The Commission’s probe was an encroachment of my privacy,” senior counsel Nirupam Nanavati appearing for the petitioners told The Hindu .
The duo had earlier appeared before the Supreme Court who then directed them to approach the High Court with their plea to take steps to protect their privacy.
The two-member Commission headed by Justice Bhatt and retired IAS officer and former additional chief secretary K.C. Kapoor, was appointed on November 26, 2013, under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
Their terms of reference included probing the authenticity and veracity of the audio tapes released by investigative news portals cobrapost.com and gulail.com, which allegedly contained conversations between former minister of State Amit Shah and suspended IPS officer G L Singhal. The websites claimed that Mr. Shah ordered illegal surveillance of a woman at the behest of one “Saheb”. Prime Minister and then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was linked to the controversy by allegations that “Saheb” was a reference to him.
