SC dismisses govt’s preliminary objections in Rafale deal case, informs Arun Shourie

Apr 10, 2019

New Delhi, Apr 10 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the Center’s preliminary objections claiming ‘privilege’ over three Rafale documents cited in petition seeking review of the December 14 verdict on the fighter jet deal. Earlier, Arun Shourie filed the plea to review Rafale deal verdict. While addressing media after the Rafale deal verdict, petitioner Arun Shourie said, “The three judges have given unanimous judgment in which they’ve rejected the government’s argument that firstly these documents cannot be considered because as the Attorney General said that they are stolen documents. This was on the face of it because if somebody is going to do something wrong, he is not going to take out full page advertisements in newspapers. So, that document has to be excavated. But the Attorney General said it is stolen and that has been rejected.” He further said, “Second argument was that these are privileged documents because they relate to Defence and so on. Our argument was that precisely because they relate to Defence, you must examine them because it affects the country’s security. These are the documents that relate to the issues which you have raised in your order. You asked for these documents and we’ve provided it. So, the court has accepted our pleas and rejected the arguments of the government.”