Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on Rafale deal on Friday

The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Friday on pleas for lodging FIR and probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, reported news agency PTI.

The Supreme Court earlier in November heard a bunch of pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The petitioners include former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and Bhushan.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas on November 14.

Advocate M L Sharma was the first petitioner in the case. Later, another lawyer Vineet Dhanda had moved the apex court with the plea for court-monitored probe into the deal.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh has also filed a petition against the fighter jet deal.

After the three petitions were filed, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with activist advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved the apex court with a plea for a direction to the CBI to register FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.

The Centre has defended the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and opposed public disclosure of the pricing details.

Rafale deal is a defence agreement signed between the governments of India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as a part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

Indian Air Force had advanced a proposal to buy 126 fighter aircraft in August 2007 and floated a tender. Following this, an invitation was sent to various aviation companies to participate in the bidding process.