The petitioner had alleged that 4 percent kickbacks were paid to middlemen in the Rs 16,000 crore deal with French company Thales.

The Centre informed the court that the report contains sensitive information which could not be revealed. The stand was opposed by the petitioner, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, on whose plea the probe was ordered by the court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah then agreed to hear the contentions of both sides to decide whether the report could be given to the petitioner.

The Court on Thursday asked Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to seek instruction from the Centre on the issue.

The government had, earlier, informed the court that the investigating agency found no evidence of involvement of kickbacks in the deal.

It had submitted the inquiry report in a sealed envelop and had contended that in view of the findings of the investigation, the PIL filed by the NGO seeking a CBI inquiry into the deal should be dismissed.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, however, alleged the CBI has not carried out proper investigation into the case.

The investigating agency conducted the preliminary inquiry on the direction of the court passed on December 20.

The court in its order had restrained the agency from closing the case after conducting the inquiry and had said the CBI would have to satisfy it that there was no evidence of payment of kickbacks in the deal.

The government had finalised the Rs 16,00O crore deal with the French company in October 2005. The petition alleged that there were middlemen involved in the deal which was against the government's policy.

The petition referred to some e-mail messages and telephonic conversations which allegedly took place between Thales's officials and the alleged middlemen.