After Govt Submits Rafale Documents to SC, Rahul Gandhi Hits Out

Rahul Gandhi hit out at PM Modi after the Centre submitted the documents detailing the Rafale deal to petitioners.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Congress President Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Centre on Monday, 12 November, provided the documents detailing the process for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets to petitioners.

Gandhi, in a tweet, said, “Prime Minister Modi has accepted the corruption allegations pertaining to the Rafale deal. In a written statement, the government has accepted that they changed the contractor of the deal without the knowledge of the Indian Air Force.”

Government Gives Details of Rafale Deal to Petitioners

On 31 October, the top court had asked the Centre to provide the pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets that India is buying from France, in a sealed cover within 10 days.

The full text of the procurement details as submitted by the government reads:

In its submission, the Centre disclosed to the Supreme Court the pricing details for the 36 Rafale jets that were negotiated on "better terms" and said it "completely followed" the Defence Procurement Procedure laid out in 2013 and secured the CCS approval before the deal that has whipped up a political storm was inked with France.

The submission by the Centre was made in a 14-page document titled "Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order" that has since been made public.

But the pricing details provided in a sealed cover remained in the custody of the top court. Initially, the Centre was reluctant to part with the information on pricing saying it was not even disclosed in Parliament.

The document said the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been "completely followed" in procurement of the Rafale aircraft and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on 24 August 2016 approved the agreement which was arrived at after negotiations between the Indian and the French sides. The UPA was in power in 2013.

“The approval of Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) for procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft was taken, Indian Negotiating Team (INT) was constituted which conducted negotiations with the French side for about a year and approval of CCS being Chief Financial Authority(CFA) was taken before signing the IGA.”

Centre’s Submission

What Did the SC Order Say?

Earlier this month, the apex court had ordered that the Centre must bring the details of the decision-making process of the Rafale deal into the public domain, except information that is confidential and of strategic importance.

The bench said the information must be shared by the government within 10 days and the petitioners could respond in the next seven days. It posted the matter for its next hearing on 14 November.

The apex court had categorically told the Centre that if the pricing detail was "exclusive" and could not be shared with the court then the Centre should file an affidavit in this regard and say so.

The Supreme Court is hearing four petitions. The petitions seeking the probe in the Rafale deal were first filed by advocates Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda.

Later, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also filed the petition.

Former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and acivist lawyer Prashant Bhushan also filed a joint petition.

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 Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

The Indian Air Force had advanced a proposal to buy 126 fighter aircraft in August 2007 and floated a tender. Following this, an invitation was sent to various aviation companies to participate in the bidding process.

(With inputs from PTI)