C declines probe into Rafale fighter jet deal with France.
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 14
In a big relief to the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under an inter-government agreement.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph said there were no irregularities in the deal and the decision making process for the purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault was above board.
The court said the need for fighter jets and Rafale’s quality we’re never under question and it was not the court’s job to get into comparative pricing details.
“We cannot go into the wisdom of why the deal for 36 Rafale jets was made and not the original 126 aircraft. We cannot ask the government to go for 126 aircraft,” the Bench said.
For the first time, four senior IAF officers – three Air Marshalls and an Air Vice Marshall – and Additional Secretary (Defence) had appeared in the top court to explain various aspects of a defence deal.
CJI Gogoi had asked several questions about previous acquisitions, which generation of aircraft IAF was using. Air Vice Marshall J Chalapathi had told the Bench that the last acquisition was Sukhoi-30 and before that Mirage Aircraft were bought in 1985.
He had said while most of the countries were using 4th and 5th generation fighter planes, IAF was using 3rd or sub-4th generation (3.5) aircraft.
“Our country can’t remain unprepared when adversaries have acquired 4th & 5th generation fighter jets compared to none by India. We have interacted with senior Indian Air Force officers and there is no doubt about need and quality of Rafale jets,” the Bench said.
It’s not correct for the court to sit as an appellate authority on every aspect of the deal,” the Bench added.
Terming it “unfortunate”, Prashant Bhushan, cousel for one of the petitioners said, “It’s a totally incorrect judgment given by the Supreme Court.”
The top court had reserved the verdict on November 13 on the contentious issue after hearing arguments from counsel for the petitioners, including Prashant Bhushan, senior journalist Arun Shourie and Attorney General KK Venugopal who had defended secrecy clause of the deal estimated to be of Rs 58,000 crore.
Alleging irregularities in the deal, petitioners ML Sharma, Prashant Bhushan, Vineet Dhanda and Sanjay Singh had demanded registration of an FIR and a court-monitored investigation into it.
Following the court’s October 31 order, the Centre had submitted in a sealed cover the pricing details of 36 Rafale jets.
The process of acquisition had started in 2001 and India was to purchase 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) but the contract negations reached a stalemate and Request for Proposal compliance was finally withdrawn in June 2015. During the protracted process India’s adversaries modernized their combact capabilities, the AG had submitted.
It was in this background that India signed an agreement with France in September 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment.
It has better deliverables, the AG had said, adding norms prescribed under Defence Procurement Policy -2013 were followed.
The Bench said, “Minor variations in clauses should not amount to setting aside of the Rafale jet deal.
The Bench agreed with Attorney General’s argument that the decision on types of aircraft and weapons needed to be procured was a matter for experts and could not be adjudicated upon by the judiciary.
Rafale: Defiant Cong wants JPC, says SC can’t review pricing
In its first reaction on the Supreme Court dismissing all petitions seeking a review of the Rafale jet purchase, the Congress on Friday said the apex court was limited by constitutional provisions to get into pricing issues and only a parliamentary probe can look at that.
Not giving up on the issue despite the court saying there was no reason to doubt the deal the Congress reiterated its demand for a JPC into the purchase repeating its old allegations of corruption and nepotism in favour of the Anil Ambani led Reliance Defence which got the offset contract in the deal with the French jet maker Dassault Aviation.
Even as the BJP fielded senior ministers to demand an apology from Congress President Rahul Gandhi for “fear mongering” around the deal the Congress media head Randeep Surjewala said the ruling party will have to answer why the jet originally priced low was eventually bought at three times the previous cost.
“The issue is of corruption, which the government will have to answer. We demand a JPC. The government must tell why HAL was dropped as the partner and transfer of technology clause of the original deal compromised; why a fledgling private company was given a major contract and how the deal was a government to government deal when France didn’t even give a sovereign guarantee and sufficed to give a letter of comfort for the deal,” said the Congress.
Gandhi have instructions to Surjewala to keep the Rafale pot boiling with Surjewala saying “PM Narendra Modi should order a JPC if he has nothing to hide.”
Rahul should apologise: Rajnath
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi to apologise to the Parliament for “misleading” the nation and causing
“damage” to the country’s international reputation when levelling allegations on the purchase of the Rafale fighter jets.
Outside the House, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor dismissed the demand for an apology saying “there will be no apology. We need to establish the truth as tax payers money is involved”.
Inside the House, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not allow Mallikaarjun Kharge to speak till Congress leaders were protesting in the Well of the House and did not return to their seats. A visibilily angry Kharge said the party was demanding a JPC.
Anil Ambani welcomes decision
Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani had welcomed the Supreme Court order, saying it established the falsity of politically motivated allegations against his firm.
In its ruling on a batch of petitions seeking a probe into the deal, the apex court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of the 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France.
Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, had entered into an agreement with Ambani’s Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) for fulfilling offset obligations.
“I welcome the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court today summarily dismissing all PILs filed on the Rafale contracts, and conclusively establishing the complete falsity of the wild, baseless and politically motivated allegations levelled against Reliance Group and me personally,” Ambani said in a statement.