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National News
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| Rafale case: Govt files affidavit in Supreme Court | | | |  New Delhi March 13(Agencies)
The government on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in the Rafale case.
The Centre told the apex court that documents filed by the petitioners seeking review of its Rafale deal verdict are sensitive to national security.
The affidavit filed by the Defence Ministry said, those who conspired in photocopying the papers have committed a crime and put the security in jeopardy by leaking them.
The Ministry said, an internal enquiry is underway over the leakage of sensitive documents and it is of utmost concern to the central government to find out where the leakage took place.
The affidavit said, the documents attached by the petitioners -- former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan relate to war capacity of the combat aircraft.
It said, the documents have been widely circulated, and available to the country's enemy and adversaries.
The government said, the documents unauthorisedly produced by petitioners are exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information Act.
The affidavit said, petitioners are using unauthorisedly accessed documents to present selective and incomplete picture of internal deliberations on national security and defence.
The government said, unauthorised photocopy of Rafale documents adversely affected sovereignty, security and friendly relations with foreign nations.
The apex court is set to hear the review plea on the Rafale case tomorrow.
The Court was hearing petitions seeking review of its December 14th, 2018 verdict in which it gave a clean chit to the government in the deal with France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court had dismissed pleas challenging the deal and seeking a Special Investigative Team led the probe into the alleged irregularities in the deal. | | | | |
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