NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court struck down Centre's claim of privilege on the newly published Rafale papers, setting the stage for the top court to examine these during a review of its earlier ruling that had given a clean chit to the government on Rafale.

"We deem it proper to dismiss the Union's plea," a three-judge bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said. The court will fix a date for the review hearing later.

The government had alleged that these documents widely published in the media had been purloined or stolen and hence were not to be admitted as evidence in the court proceedings.

The petitioners, who sought a review of the court's clean chit on the ground of errors of fact, urged the court to examine these documents during the review hearing. The petitioners include the likes of activists lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Arun Shourie.

The Supreme Court struck down Centre's claim of privilege on the newly published Rafale papers, setting the stage for the top court to examine these during a review of its earlier ruling that had given a clean chit to the government on Rafale.

"We deem it proper to dismiss the Union's plea," a three-judge bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said. The court will fix a date for the review hearing later.

The government had alleged that these documents widely published in the media had been purloined or stolen and hence were not to be admitted as evidence in the court proceedings.

The petitioners, who sought a review of the court's clean chit on the ground of errors of fact, urged the court to examine these documents during the review hearing.

"We are delighted at the unanimous verdict dismissing Centre's argument on admissibility of documents," Shourie said on the order.

Shourie is one of the review petitioners along with former union minister Yashwant Sinha and activist advocate Prashant Bhushan.