Centre asks SC to defer Rafale review hearing listed for tomorrow, says needs more time to file affidavit

The Centre on Monday asked the Supreme Court to put off the Rafale review hearing listed for Tuesday, saying it needs more time to file its affidavit.

The government’s request was mentioned before the bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. The court hasn’t indicated its mind on the request and asked the Centre to circulate its letter. It will rule on the centre’s request later.

The petition to seek a review of the Supreme Court’s December verdict rejecting a court-ordered probe into the deal to buy Rafale fighter jets had cleared its first big hurdle earlier this month when the top court rejected the government’s counter on the admissibility of some documents used by petitioners.

The unanimous judgment by the three-member bench had rejected the argument that the documents should not be considered during the hearing because these were sensitive in nature and had been obtained through “unauthorised photocopying and leakage”.

Those documents will now be judged on merit as part of the review of the December 14, 2018, verdict of the apex court, which had ruled out a court-monitored probe into the allegations of procedural violations and favouritism in a deal to procure 36 Rafale jets, effectively giving the government a clean chit.