The Supreme Court today, reserved its order on whether the government can claim privilege over the Rafale documents. The top court heard petitions for a review of its December judgement in the Rafale case today that said there was no reason to doubt the decision-making process even as the opposition continued to attack the Centre over alleged corruption in the jet deal. During the hearing, the court told Attorney General KK Venugopal that the RTI Act is applicable for sensitive information in cases of corruption. The Attorney General said the court should direct the removal of the leaked pages from the review petitions as the government claims privilege over these documents. Public Interest Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was also present during the hearing, told the court that the documents have been published and are already in public domain. The argument that this will harm the security is untenable.
In December, the top court had rejected petitions alleging the government had gone for an overpriced deal to help Anil Ambani's company bag an offset contract with jet-maker Dassault. On Wednesday, the Centre told the top court that documents filed by the petitioners seeking review of its Rafale deal verdict are "sensitive to national security" and those who photocopyied the papers have committed theft and put national security in jeopardy by leaking them. The government alsp targeted The Hindu newspaper over its investigative stories on the purchase of 36 fighter jets from France.
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