Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will hear the petition filed by advocate Vineet Dhanda along with a similar plea filed earlier by lawyer ML Sharma

The Supreme Court will hear a fresh PIL against the Rafale deal between India and France on Wednesday (October 10).

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph, on Monday (October8), said it will hear the PIL filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda, who is seeking a direction to the Centre to reveal details of the deal and the comparative prices during the UPA and NDA rule in a sealed cover to the apex court.

The petitioner has also sought information about the contract given to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence by Dassault Aviation. Advocate M L Sharma’s plea, filed earlier, alleging discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and seeking a stay on it will also come up for hearing on October 10 along with Dhanda’s petition. Sharma claimed in his plea that the inter-government agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an “outcome of corruption” and not ratified by Parliament under Article 253 (Parliament has power to make any law for implementing any inter-government agreement) of the Constitution.

It may be recalled that a similar plea was filed in the apex court in March this year seeking an independent probe into the Rafale deal and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament. That plea, filed by Congress worker Tehseen Poonawalla, had sought a direction against the Centre on why the Union Cabinet’s approval was not sought as part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) before signing the procurement deal with France on September 23, 2016.

                                                                                                       —India Legal Bureau, with inputs from PTI