The Supreme Court Tuesday granted the Centre more time to decide on filing a further response to a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged snooping of certain people in India through the use of Israeli spyware Pegasus.

The matter will have a further hearing on September 13.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana had issued a notice to the Centre on the pleas on August 17, while making it clear that it did not want the government to disclose anything which compromised national security. The Centre had earlier filed a short affidavit on the matter.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre was to take a decision on the filing of a second affidavit in the matter.  To this, the bench said to list it on Monday.

As many as 12 pleas, including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India, are seeking an independent probe into the matter.

An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.