New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking an investigation into the Rafale fighter jet deal after two weeks.
The fresh plea filed by petitioner and lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma was in light of the new revelations made by a French media outlet alleging payment of bribe by Dassault Aviation to an Indian middleman in the 2016 Rafale deal between India and France.
The earlier plea against the Rafale deal, also filed by Sharma, was dismissed in 2018 and a review petition was rejected in November 2019. Sharma submitted his new PIL before Chief Justice SA Bobde Monday.
CJI Bobde, who is retiring on April 23, agreed to list the matter after two weeks. The petition contended that the deal is an ‘outcome of corruption’ and violation of Articles 13,21, and 253. India bought 36 fighter jets from France in a Rs 59,000-crore inter-governmental deal in 2016. The country received the first batch of five planes in July last year, the second batch in November, and the third batch in January this year. The fourth batch of the Rafale jets arrived in the country earlier this month.
