Rafel Case: SC asks centre How it made the decision to buy Rafel Fighter?
NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – How Centre decided to buy 36 fighters, of the price paid, and of offset contracts in the deals these are the thing which Supreme Court has asked for while opening the big window for investigation in Rafel case. On Wednesday SC directed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to provide within 10 days pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets bought from France.
Hearing a petition on October 10, the SC had asked for details of how the Centre decided to buy 36 Rafales but stated it would not get into “the issue of pricing or the question of technical suitability” of the French fighter.
The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, justice UU Lalit and justice K M Joseph said they had received the report about the process and wanted the government to share them with the petitioners too to the extent possible.
“We are of the view that the information conveyed upon in the report, which can be legitimately be brought into the public domain be made available to the lead counsel of the petitioners in all cases. Along with the said facts, further details that could legitimately come in the public domain with respect to the induction of the Indian offset partner, if any, were also furnished to the lead counsel of the parties,” the bench ordered.
In the last hearing earlier this month, the court had asked for a lowdown on the decision-making process but had emphasized that it would not get into “pricing or suitability” of the jets. However, it was not suitability of the jets but the “bonafide of the decision-making and price” that had been questioned, the court said today.
Attorney-General K K Venugopal, who appeared on behalf of the Centre, said that details of the contract were under the Official Secrets Act. In response, the SC ordered: “ Such of the details in this regard which may be considered to be strategic and confidential may, at this stage, be placed before the SC and may not be furnished to the learned counsels for the parties or the petitioners in person.”
The Congress also accuses the government of deliberately scrapping a deal the previous UPA government had negotiated with Dassault, for 126 Rafale jets under which 18 jets were to be supplied in a fly-away condition and 108 were to be manufactured in India along with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
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The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) that Indian Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa says can be a “game-changer” and booster for India’s defence.
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