The three-judge Top Court bench headed by the CJI Ranjan Gogoi giving a major jolt to Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central Government has on Wednesday unanimously rejected the objections raised by Government against the review pleas filed for apex court’s decision on the Rafale deal.
The Top Court also allowed the admissibility of three documents in Rafale deal as evidence in re-examining the review petitions filed against the SC’s December 14 judgement refusing to order probe in procuring 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
The Highest Court further said Rafale review pleas will be heard in detail by the court. The Top Court said, ‘as far as the question of hearing of review plea on Rafale judgement is concerned, it will give a detailed hearing later on’.
Supreme Court allows admissibility of three documents in Rafale deal as evidence in re-examining the review petitions filed against the SC's December 14 judgement refusing to order probe in procuring 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. https://t.co/zqqdrTx8YS
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019
READ: SC Refuses to Hear Review Petition Filed by AAP’s Sanjay Singh in Rafale Case; Says ‘Politician’s remarks Derogatory’
Earlier the top Court had in March reserved the verdict on the Issue. Attorney General arguing in the Court has said that the documents are ‘privileged’, photocopied and cannot be produced in court without its permission. He further asked the Court that the classified Documents should be taken out from the plea.
The petitioners, on the other hand, have argued that not everything can be brushed aside in the name of national security. The petitioner further said that leaked papers are now already in the public domain.
Arun Shourie, one of the petitioners in the Rafale Case after the Development said, ‘Our argument was that because the documents relate to Defence you must examine them. You asked for these evidences and we have provided it. So the Court has accepted our pleas & rejected the arguments of the Govt’.
Arun Shourie, who filed review plea in Rafale deal verdict: Our argument was that because the documents relate to Defence you must examine them. You asked for these evidence & we have provided it. So Court, has accepted our pleas & rejected the arguments of the Govt. pic.twitter.com/5S2xI0lkiV
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019
Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want,
But sooner or later the truth comes out.
The skeletons in #RafaleScam are tumbling out one by one.
And now there is ‘no official secrets act’ to hide behind.
1/2— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019
SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle;
A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent Journalists for exposing his corruption on #Rafale.
Don’t worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not
2/2— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 10, 2019
Background
The Supreme Court on December 14 rejected the Petition filed seeking a court-monitored CBI-led investigation into the Rafale deal involving ₹59,000 crores for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets. A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that there is no reason to doubt the deal.
Several Review Petitions include one joint by Arun Shourie, Prashant Bhushan and Yashwant Sinha were filed against SC Verdict of December 14, and the Top Court is hearing those review petitions.
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