In Rafale plea, SC to first settle row on documents

Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into the facts of the [Rafale] case SUPREME COURT BENCH

NEWDELHI: Information relating to alleged corruption and human rights violations cannot be deemed to be privileged or protected, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, responding to the government’s request that the top court should not consider secret documents that form part of petitions seeking a review of its own December judgment dismissing pleas for a probe of the ~59,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal.

A government affidavit filed on Wednesday argued that the petitioners had relied on photocopied documents that could jeopardise national security and impair India’s relations with other countries. It also claimed privilege with respect to the documents under the Evidence Act, saying the court cannot take cognisance of the papers.

On the government’s stand that the secret documents are protected under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Official Secrets Act and Article 19 (2) of the Constitution, justice KM Joseph observed: ”In cases of corruption and human rights viola- tions, even sensitive organisations have to disclose information under section 24 of the RTI Act.”

“When the parliament passed the RTI Act in 2005, it brought about a complete revolution; let us not go back to what it was before the law came into existence,” justice Joseph remarked.

The top court later reserved its order on the government’s preliminary objection to the court taking note of the documents, which include three sets of secret notes, one of them an eight-page dissent note written by three domain experts in the Indian team that negotiated the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter planes made by France’s Dassault Aviation.

Appearing for the Centre, attorney general KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court that the secret documents presented in the review petitions were privileged information and could be prohibited from being brought into the public domain under the reasonable restriction clause of the Constitution and the RTI Act.

“Article 19(2) of the constitution imposes restriction on publication of documents that affect the sovereignty, integrity of the country and friendly relations with foreign states,” the government’s top law officer argued, saying the Official Secrets Act disallowed defence ministry documents from being admitted in the Supreme Court.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and comprising justices Joseph and Sanjay Kishan Kaul is hearing a petition against the top court’s December verdict, which found that there was “no occasion to doubt” the decisionmaking process behind the 2016 purchase of Rafale aircraft or the need for the fighter planes.

The petition by former Union ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha and advocate Prashant Bhushan said information that surfaced after the verdict proved that the National