The Supreme Court is hearing a request to review its order in the Rafale deal.
The petitions calling for a review of the Rafale case judgment would be heard in open court, the Supreme Court said today. The petitions for review of the top court's December verdict came after the Centre called for a correction in the verdict. The petitions -- filed by Former NDA ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, advocate Prashant Bhushan and Aam Aadmi party MP Sanjay Singh -- contend that the court should to re-consider its judgment, which relies on a "non-existent" CAG report to uphold the Rafale deal.
The top court also said it would also hear all the petitions connected with Rafale, including the Centre's plea for modification of a "factual error" in the December verdict, where it mentions a report by the national auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The auditor's report was placed before the parliament after the verdict, in the session that ended on February 13. In its petition, the Centre said the court had misunderstood the procedure mentioned in the report it presented in a sealed cover -- that the Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG had examined the pricing of the jets and submitted its report.
The three-judge bench - comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph -- however, has not given a date for the hearing.
In December, the top court had dismissed petitions that called for a probe into India's deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets. The petitions alleged that the government had gone for an overpriced deal to help industrialist Anil Ambani's rookie defence form bag an offset contract with jet-maker Dassault.
Amid Congress allegations of corruption and crony capitalism, the top court had said it saw no occasion to doubt the decision making process to acquire the planes.
This time, the petitioners have alleged that the judgment was riddled with fault lines as Central government officials had misled the court, supplying it with false information. Mr Sinha, Mr Shourie and Prashant Bhushan have sought initiation of perjury proceedings against the officials.