The Supreme Court delivered its verdict, dismissing Centre's preliminary objections documents sourced from the Defence Ministry by media without authorisation which were used as "evidence" in the Rafale fighter jet case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided that leaked confidential documents suggesting the PMO’s interference in negotiations on the Rafale deal, can be relied upon while adjudicating on a bunch of petitions that have sought a review of the court’s verdict of December 14 last year which had rejected prayers for an investigation into the fighter jet deal.
The top court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, was unanimous in its verdict that purportedly leaked confidential documents can be relied upon while adjudicating on the Rafale review petitions.
Below are the live updates:
16:30pm: Rahul Gandhi Says SC Has 'Accepted' There Was Corruption In Rafale Deal
Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed the SC has made it “clear” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “committed a theft”.
Rahul Gandhi then challenged Modi to a debate on the Rafale military aircraft deal, which the Congress claims involved corruption, a charge repeatedly rejected by the government.
15:09pm: It is a setback and a slap in the face for the government, Says CPI leader D Raja
Senior CPI leader D Raja Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court order allowing leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgment, saying the order was a "setback" for the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
"It is a setback and a slap in the face for the government. The court has rejected the government's argument. And now what is the answer from Mr (Narendra) Modi and Mr Arun Jaitley who were referring to Supreme Court all the time on the clean chit," he said.
12:36pm: Rafale judgment proves Modi misled SC: Arvind Kejriwal
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Supreme Court's Rafale judgment shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi mislead the apex court over the issue.
"Modiji was saying everywhere that he got a clean chit in the Rafale matter. The judgment the SC gave today shows that Modi has stolen from the deal. He cheated with the army and to hide all this, he misleads the Supreme Court," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
Modi Govt Misled Court, We Will Pursue Perjury Case In SC, Says Yashwant Sinha
In an interview to Outlook, former union minister Yashwant Sinha said, "As I have said in my tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is a government that lies. The lies have now been exposed. I welcome the Supreme Court's order. We have crossed the first hurdle and we now have to prepare to argue the case on merits, based on the documents that are now in public domain which prove that there is ample reason to investigate various aspects of the Rafale deal."
11:58pm: Govt compromised on National Security, Says Yechury
"Modi and his govt have compromised national security for corruption & cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked," CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.
11:30am: Reacting to the verdict, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said "SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle."
11:05pm: Former union minister Arun Shourie said he was delighted by the unanimous verdict. "We are delighted it is an unanimous verdict dismissing Central government's peculiar argument on admissibility of documents. Centre's argument meant no wrong can be done in the defence deal," he told PTI.
11:01am: The top court said it will fix a date for hearing review petitions
11:00am: The Supreme Court will now fix a date for commencement of hearing on merit the batch of review petitions, filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, advocates Prashant Bhushan, ML Sharma and Vineet Dhanda.