*NEW DELHI: The Indian Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday ruled out to reviewthe ‘secret’ Rafale deal documents after rejecting government’s claim ofprivilege on the newly published Rafale papers.*
“We deem it proper to dismiss the Union’s plea,” a three-judge bench led byCJI Ranjan Gogoi said. The court will fix a date for the review hearinglater.
The government had alleged that these documents widely published in themedia had been purloined or stolen and hence were not to be admitted asevidence in the court proceedings.
The petitioners, who sought a review of the court’s clean chit on theground of errors of fact, urged the court to examine these documents duringthe review hearing.
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Former French President Francois Hollande, who approved the deal when hewas in office, had triggered a political storm in India after he said theIndian government influenced the choice of a local partner in the deal.
New Delhi is denying the allegations, but opposition parties are gunningfor Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 2016 purchase of 36 Rafale planesestimated to be worth $8.7 billion, saying he overpaid for the planes andhad not been transparent.
