By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: In a major relief to Union Government, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to change its December 2018 verdict that dismissed pleas seeking a court-monitored probe of alleged irregularities in the ₹59,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with French plane maker Dassault Aviation.
Dismissing a batch of petitions seeking a review of the order, the top court said, “ We cannot lose sight of the fact we are dealing with contract pending with government for long. Prayer made by petitioner was for registration of FIR and CBI enquiry…this is not a fresh examination as they were considered earlier on merit.”
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, which also comprises justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, had earlier reserved its verdict on the review petitions on May 10. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and lawyer Prashant Bhushan were among those who had filed the review pleas.
