The Supreme Court of India has appointed retired top court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran to supervise a three-member committee that will examine the allegations of unauthorised surveillance using Israeli spyware Pegasus.

Justice Raveendran told The Indian Express from Bengaluru that it would be his endeavour to “oversee the functioning of the technical committee in the manner directed” by the apex court.

Who is Justice R.V. Raveendran?

Justice Raveendran has been described as “one of the greatest judges of the Supreme Court" by former Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia.

Born in 1946, Justice Raju Varadarajulu Raveendran enrolled as an advocate in March 1968 and was appointed a permanent judge of the Karnataka High Court in 1993. A highly-respected member of the law fraternity, Justice Raveendran became the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court in July 2004. The following year, he was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He retired in October 2011 after a six-year long stint as the apex court judge.

During his tenure at the Supreme Court, Justice Raveendran has been part of several landmark judgments on constitutionals law, OBC reservation and education.

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In 2006, he was part of the five-judge Constitution bench that upheld 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in educational institutes like IITs and IIMs.

In 2009, Justice Raveendran recused himself from a hearing on the Ambani brothers’ gas dispute, saying his daughter was part of a law firm that advised Mukesh Ambani on other matters.

After his retirement, he was appointed to the Lodha Committee in 2015 to reform the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI).

On his retirement day, then Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia had said: “Friends, if you want an Indian hero, a real hero, my vote is for Justice Raveendran. He is one of the greatest judges of this court."

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In June this year, Justice Raveendran released his book, Anomalies in Law and Justice: Writings Related to Law and Justice, that “brings forward the contemporary problems in justice delivery, corrupt system, the role of diverse institutions in the Parliamentary Democracy, deterioration of moral values, loss of confidence of the common man in the rule of law, judicial conduct in decision making and law being not in sync with justice.”

Other members of Pegasus committee

The committee comprises Dr Prabaharan P, Professor at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Kerala; Dr Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Dean of National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar; and Dr Ashwin Anil Gumaste, Institute Chair Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Justice Raveendran will “oversee the functioning of the committee with respect to the methodology to be adopted, procedure to be followed, enquiry and investigation that is carried out and preparation of the report,” the Supreme Court said in its order.

Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman of International Organisation of Standardisation and International Electro-Technical Commission, and Alok Joshi, 1976-batch IPS officer, will assist Justice Raveendran in monitoring the expert technical committee.

Also read: How does the Pegasus spyware work, and is my phone at risk?

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)