Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 30
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the government on a petition seeking review of its verdict dismissing demands for a probe into alleged irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under an inter-governmental agreement (IGA).
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked the government to respond to the review petition filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan by Saturday after Attorney General KK Venugopal said the government needed four weeks to respond to the review petition.
The Bench, which also included Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph, posted the matter for further hearing on May 6.
Bhushan said his plea for perjury proceedings against the government for suppressing material information and misleading the court should also be taken up.
The trio had on January 2 moved the Supreme Court, seeking review of its verdict that gave a clean chit to the deal. They had also demanded an “open court” hearing. They had alleged that the December 14 judgment “relied upon patently incorrect claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover” to the top court.
Upholding their claim, the Bench had on April 10 rejected the government claim of privilege over certain document and ruled that leaked documents could be relied upon during the hearing of review petition as the said documents were relevant to the proceedings on Rafale.
In a huge relief to Narendra Modi government, the SC had on December 14 dismissed petitions seeking probe into India-France deal for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets. There was “no” occasion to “really doubt the decision making process” warranting setting aside of the contract, it had said.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2PHkXiH
via Today’s News Headlines
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