CJI criticises lawyers for filing defective review petitions in Rafale case

The Supreme Court Friday expressed unhappiness over some lawyers filing defective petitions and seeking wide publicity in the media, while referring to review pleas challenging its verdict in the Rafale case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said lawyers file petitions in the apex court registry and instead of removing the defects of the pleas, they go to media for wide publicity.

"The other side is not so innocent...The petitioners go to media and claim wide publicity," the bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said while referring to defective review petitions filed challenging its verdict in the Rafale case.

The apex court's observation came when it was hearing lawyers mentioning cases for urgent listing and hearing.
 

The CJI has asked the registrar (judicial) of the apex court to come and witness the mentioning proceedings so that the registry officials can get their act right and work more efficiently.

Earlier, the apex court had on December 14 dismissed a batch of pleas challenging the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.

The apex court had rejected the pleas seeking lodging of an FIR and a court-monitored probe in to alleged irregularities in the Rs 58,000-crore deal, in which both the countries have entered into an inter-governmental agreement (IGA).

Several petitions seeking review of the verdict, including one by AAP lawmaker Sanjay Singh, have been filed in the apex court.

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