Rafale: Supreme Court to consider Review Petitions in chamber on February 26

The review petitions filed in the Rafale case against the December 14 judgment will be considered by the Supreme Court in chambers on February 26 at 1.45 pm..The Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph will consider the review petitions, as well as the plea for an open court hearing..The review petitions preferred by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Singh claim that the judgment is based on “errors apparent on the face of the record” and ought to be recalled..Asserting that the Centre “quite clearly misled the court”, the petition submits that the Court had relied upon “false averments” to come to the conclusion that the procedure for procurement of the 36 Rafale jets was duly complied with..Referring to the Court’s reliance on the “non-existent CAG report”, the review petitioners have stated that the Court “erred in relying on a non-existent fact to render its judgment”. It further iterates that the reference was not an “accidental slip”, but rather a substantial error..The petitions also bring the Court’s attention to its “erroneous recording” of answers on the decision-making process and pricing given by Air Force officers. Also pointed out is the Court’s mistaking of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries for Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure..It has further been submitted that the petitioners’ prayer for registration of FIR and investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was not even dealt with by the Court. Instead, the Court reviewed the contract “prematurely” without the benefit of any investigation or inquiry into disputed questions of facts..The petition has also objected to the Court’s reliance on the Centre’s note on the pricing of Rafale jets, which was neither shared with the petitioners nor examined in the light of other “primary documents”..Further, the petition seeks to bring certain “subsequent information”, which if not considered, “would cause grave miscarriage of justice”.