Rafale Deal: Supreme Court to Hear Petitions Seeking Review of Its Verdict on February 26

Besides Bhushan, Sinha and Shourie had moved the Supreme Court Monday seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against central government officials for allegedly giving "false or misleading" information in a sealed cover in the high-profile Rafale case.

Published: February 22, 2019 9:36 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Shubhangi Gupta

Rafale Jets
Rafale Jets (File Photo)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will hear petitions seeking review of its December 14 judgement on Rafale fighter jet deal case, on February 26.

On December 14 last year in what came as a huge relief to the government, the apex court dismissed four petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the purchase of 36 Rafale jet fighters in ready-to-fly condition, holding that the decision-making process is not in doubt and that it cannot go into the question of pricing and choice of Indian offset partner by the French manufacturer Dassault.

The top Court on Thursday said, “The combination (of the judges) of bench will have to be changed. It is very difficult. We will do something for it,” the bench, also comprising Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said when Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petitions in the Rafale case. It also said that it will consider the listing of pleas seeking review of its verdict in the case.

Bhushan said that the review petition filed by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was defective and other petitions had no defects to be cured. He also said that besides the review petition, an application seeking perjury prosecution against some central government employees for giving misleading information to the court has also been filed.

Besides Bhushan, Sinha and Shourie had moved the Supreme Court Monday seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against central government officials for allegedly giving “false or misleading” information in a sealed cover in the high-profile Rafale case.

The government presented the CAG report in the Parliament during the recently-concluded Budget Session, which said that the fighter jet deal inked by the current NDA government with France was 2.86 per cent cheaper than the one finalised by the erstwhile UPA dispensation in 2007.

The verdict by the apex court said that it found no reason to intervene on what it called the “sensitive issue” of purchase of 36 jets from France came as a political victory for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi just days after the defeat of the party in three Hindi-heartland states–Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh– in the Assembly polls at the hands of the Congress.

PM Modi had come in for a relentless attack from Congress President Rahul Gandhi who alleged corruption in the procurement of the fighter jets for the IAF from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, calling it a scam which allegedly benefitted industrialist Anil Ambani.

Holding it did not find any substantial material on record to show there was “commercial favouritism” to any party by the Indian Government in choosing an offset partner, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a “fishing and roving enquiry” by the court and it cannot “sit in judgement” over the wisdom of the decision to go in for purchase of 36 aircraft in place of 126.

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