The sealed envelope of Rafel Jet pricing reaches Supreme Court

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Indians don’t really have any information about what army India has and what are the arsenal which army is using but there will not be a single person in India who has not heard about the “Rafel Jet”.

But it seems like the controversy is about to end as the central government has submitted the pricing details of Rafel Jet to the Supreme Court.

The Centre has said that the procurement process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure 2013 was followed in the procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft. The Centre filed in sealed cover detail of the pricing as well. The court will hear the matter on Wednesday.

The Narendra Modi government assured the court in the affidavit that “all requisite steps had been taken in the Rafale deal” and that all “defense procurement process was followed” in acquiring the 36 Rafale jets. In its affidavit, which has been accessed by Times Now, the Centre said, “procurement process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 was followed in the procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft.”  The Centre also noted that the approval of the Defence Acquisition Council had been taken.

Indian negotiation team submitted its report on fully loaded 36 Rafale jets on August 4, 2016, it was vetted by the finance and law ministries within 20 days and the Cabinet Committee approved the deal on August 24 2016. The pricing details were however given to the SC in a sealed cover. It may be recalled that on October 31, the Centre had claimed privilege on it. The court had however stated that the Centre should file an affidavit that it cannot submit these details.

Rafale deal is a defense agreement signed between the governments of India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as a part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.