The Supreme Court rejected the reconsideration petitions filed on its decision to give a clean chit to the government on the Rafale deal. The court was sought to review its decision. The Supreme Court ruled on the petitions of Former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and some others, including Arun Shourie and Lawyer Prashant Bhushan in the Rafale case. They demanded a reconsideration of the decision of December 14 last year, in which the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the Center's Rafale deal to buy 36 fighter aircraft from French company 'Dasou'.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice SK Kaul and Justice KM Joseph gave their verdict in the politically sensitive case. Significantly, on 14 December 2018, the apex court had rejected the petitions seeking investigation against alleged irregularities in the Rs 58,000-crore deal, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, there was a lot of controversy over the Rafale fighter jet deal. A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the case alleging corruption. Apart from this, the price of the fighter aircraft, the contract, the role of the company were also questioned. The UPA accused the central government of having done the deal at a much higher price.
On the other hand, it has been said from the government that in the first deal there was no talk of transfer of technology of Rafael whereas only the grant of manufacturing license was said. The government claimed that the French company would be instrumental in promoting Make in India after the deal.
In its judgment, the apex court had said that the court cannot interfere in the matter. Following this decision, a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
