New Delhi:The Supreme Court today unanimously dismissed the Central government’s objections to considering as evidence classified documents “stolen” from the Defence Ministry.The Opposition has been alleging that the deal was dubious.
The Surpeme Court will hear the review petitions in the light of new documents cited by petitioners alleging wrong-doing in the Rafale deal. The petitions are to be decided on merits.
What this means is that classified documents sourced by media houses without authorisation can be considered as evidence.
Citing internal notes of the Defence Ministry, The Hindu published a series of articles stating that the Ministry had objected to “parallel negotiations” for the fighter jets by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Pointing to the documents, the petitioners had called for a review of the verdict. “These are sensitive documents relating to defence, but that was precisely what we said too – that because they are documents of importance, they must be treated as part of supporting documents,” said former Union minister Arun Shourie, one of the petitioners.
The Centre had told the court the documents were “sensitive to national security”, and those who conspired in photocopying the papers have committed theft.
The government added that the petitioners had put national security in jeopardy by leaking them to the nation.
Petitioner Prashant Bhushan argued “if a document is relevant in deciding a fact, how it was obtained becomes irrelevant”.
N Ram, chairman of The Hindu Publishing Group, said the documents were published in public interest, and the media group will fiercely protect its sources.
The top court today said it would fix a date to hear the petitions.
In December, the Supreme Court had dismissed petitions alleging that the government had gone for an overpriced deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets to help Anil Ambani’s defence firm bag an offset contract with Dassault Aviation.
The court had then ruled that there was no reason to doubt the decision-making process of the government.
The Centre had submitted that privilege documents were procured by petitioners in an illegal way and used to support their review petitions against the 14 December 2018 judgement of the apex court dismissing all pleas challenging the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
“We dismiss the preliminary objection raised by Union of India questioning the maintainability of the review petition,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said today.
The apex court said it will go ahead with the hearing on the review petition on the basis of new documents referred by the petitioners.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi pronounced the verdict on his behalf and for Justice S K Kaul. The second concurrent judgment was pronounced by Justice K M Joseph, who said he agreed with the conclusion of the judgment written by the CJI.
Justice Gogoi said Justice Joseph agreed with the judgment delivered by him but gave different reasoning.
The judgment makes it clear that during the hearing of the review petition, the bench will look not only into the question of pricing of the jet but also selection of the Indian offset partner of Dassault which manufactures Rafale.