SC refuses to hear fresh petition in Rafale deal

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a fresh petition filed in connection with the Rafale deal.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said, "We are already hearing many petitions in the issue", adding: "What is the need to hear fresh petition?"

Earlier on Saturday, the central government submitted the details of the decision-making process pertaining to the deal to the top court's Secretary-General in a sealed cover.

The apex court, while hearing a petition, had sought the said information from the Centre without divulging technical details and prices of the Rafale fighter jets.

The opposition Congress party has been alleging irregularities in the high-profile Defence fighter jets contract signed between India and France in 2016 under National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

In 2012, during the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) tenure, India planned to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France, with 108 others to be assembled in the country by the state-run aerospace and defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

However, in 2015, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government scrapped the UPA's plan and announced that it would buy 36 "ready-to-fly" Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation.

The Congress alleged that the NDA government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.