Rafale: Centre seeks deferment of Tuesday's hearing in SC

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday sought deferment of Tuesday's hearing on the pleas seeking review of the Rafale deal verdict of December 14 last year saying it needs time to file a detailed reply on these petitions.

The Centre's prayer was made before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi which did not say anything on the issue of adjournment of the scheduled hearing on Tuesday.

The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, allowed senior advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Centre, to circulate a letter of adjournment among the parties which include petitioners who have filed the review pleas.

The Centre's letter said it needs time to file reply on merits on the review petitions.

The review petitions filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan is listed for hearing before a bench headed by the Chief Justice on Tuesday in the post-lunch session.

In a setback to the Centre, the apex court had on April 10 allowed the pleas which relied on leaked documents for seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. See P6