The Supreme Court made it clear on Thursday that it will decide first on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre and then go into the facts of the Rafale fighter jet deal case. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the petitioners seeking review of its order to focus on the preliminary objections regarding admissibility of the leaked documents.
“Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into the facts of the case,” said the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
At the outset, Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and told the Supreme Court that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned.
