The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a batch of public interest pleas challenging the NDA government’s purchase of 36 Rafale jets, ruling out illegalities, but left the door open for the filing of fresh criminal cases against officials and ministers.

This is because the bench clarified that it had decided the matter only with reference to Article 32 of the Constitution, under which the four petitions had been moved.

Article 32 empowers any citizen to directly approach the Supreme Court complaining of violation of his or her fundamental rights by the State and seek a remedy.

In effect, the Supreme Court has left it open for anyone to file a criminal case with the CBI or lodge a private complaint alleging criminality in the defence deal under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It was a private complaint, filed by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, that led to the 2G spectrum controversy and put several VIPs behind bars for months.

There is no bar on Parliament taking up the issue despite the judgment. If a non-NDA government comes to power next summer, it will be free to scrap the deal and start a fresh inquiry.

In a 29-page judgment, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph said: “We, however, make it clear that our views as above are primarily from the standpoint of the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, which has been invoked in the present group of cases.”

Advocates Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda and Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh had moved three of the petitions. The fourth was a joint petition from former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan.