Supreme Court to hear plea against Rafale deal on October 10  

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on October 10 a fresh PIL against the Rafale deal between India and France.

The PIL seeks a direction to the Centre to reveal details of the deal and comparative prices during the UPA and NDA rule to the apex court in a sealed cover.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph will hear the PIL filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda.

Earlier on September 18, the apex court had adjourned hearing on a PIL seeking a stay on the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France. The petitioner advocate ML Sharma told the bench that he wants to file some additional documents in the case and therefore the matter should be adjourned.

In his petition, Sharma has alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought a stay on it.

Sharma has said in his plea that the inter-government agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an "outcome of corruption" and not ratified by Parliament under Article 253 (Parliament has power to make any law for implementing any inter-government agreement) of the Constitution.

The petition has also sought lodging of an FIR and prosecution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Defence Minister and present Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, business tycoon Anil Ambani and French armament firm Dassault, along with recovery of the amount.

A similar plea was filed in the apex court in March this year seeking an independent probe into the Rafale deal and disclosure of the cost involved in it before Parliament. The plea, filed by Congress leader Tehseen S Poonawalla, had sought issuance of a direction against the Centre on why the Union Cabinet's approval was not sought as part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) before signing the procurement deal with France on September 23, 2016.