SC to hear Rafale review petitions on merits, dismisses Centre’s preliminary objections seekin

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Apr 10, 2019 : In a major blow for the government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed Centre’s preliminary objections seeking review of earlier judgment giving clean chit to the government in Rafale deal with France, as to Zeenews.

 

 

A SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi passed the order, allowing the admissibility of three documents in Rafale deal as evidence in re-examining the review petitions filed against the judgement delivered by the apex court on December 14, 2018 refusing to order probe in procuring 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

The SC bench also said it will fix a date for starting detailed hearing on the review petitions which raised questions only the pricing of Rafale jets and also the selection of Anil Ambani owned company as offset partner of Dassault, the French firm which manufactures the ultra-modern fighter jet.

CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph were unanimous in their views.

The SC had last heard this case on March 14 and had reserved verdict on the objections raised by the government on admissibility of privileged documents submitted by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Earlier, an affidavit was filed by the Defence Ministry in the top court in connection with this case, claiming that the documents submitted by the petitioners are sensitive to national security.