In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court on April 10 allowed the pleas which relied on leaked documents for seeking review of its Rafale judgment and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. (Shutterstock)The Supreme Court directed the Union government on Tuesday to file response by May 4 to the petitions seeking review of last December's Rafale verdict by which the apex court had dismissed the pleas challenging India's deal to procure 36 fighter jets from France. Former Union ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan have filed a petition seeking review of the December 14, 2018, verdict of the apex court giving a clean chit to the Rafale deal. On January 2, Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan had approached the apex court seeking review of the judgment, alleging that the court had relied upon "patently incorrect" claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover in the court. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

Source: The Telegraph April 30, 2019 11:37 UTC