NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 14, said a discussion on the pricing of Rafale fighter jets can only take place if the facts of the deal are allowed to come into the public domain.
The Supreme Court Wednesday commenced its crucial hearing on pleas seeking court-monitored probe into procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said that for now it will only focus on the procedure leading to signing of the Rafale deal between the Indian and French government.
The Centre had on Monday given procedural details in pursuance of the apex court’s October 31 order. The details were also shared with the petitioner ML Sharma and NGO Common Cause of Prashant Bhushan.
The government had also submitted the pricing details of the deal to the court in a sealed cover.Attorney General K K Venugopal opposes advocate Prashant Bhushan who wants to submit information on secrecy clause of Rafale agreement.
On Tuesday, in a media interview, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier defended the contract and claimed no wrongdoing in the deal, asserting it was a “clean deal”.
India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment.The estimated cost of the deal is ₹58,000 crore.
Bhushan argued that initially the Union Law Ministry had flagged the issue, but later gave in to the proposal of entering into the IGA.
Bhushan tells SC that the government is hiding behind the secrecy clause and has not disclosed the price of Rafale jets.
Bhushan says the petition by them has been filed after the CBI did not register the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Air Force needed 126 fighter jets and had intimated the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) about it, he said referring to the process of defence acquisition.
Supreme Court asks Additional Secretary Defence as to why the offset guidelines were changed in 2015. What about country’s interest? What if the offset partner doesn’t do any production?
Former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan also filed a joint petition. Later, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had also filed a petition.
