In a big win for the Centre and the NDA government, the Supreme Court on Friday, 14 December, dismissed all petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into India’s Rafale aircraft deal with France. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said that it was satisfied with the procurement process of the 36 aircrafts and that a country cannot be “underprepared”.
Here are the key takeaways from the Supreme court’s order:
- “There are three broad areas in this case; decision-making, pricing, and procedure of procurement.”
- “We studied the materials carefully, interacted with defence officials, we are satisfied with decision making process.”
- “We are satisfied that there is no occasion to doubt the process. A country can’t afford to be underprepared. Not correct for the Court to sit as an appellant authority and scrutinise all aspects.”
- “We don't find substantial matter to interfere with issue of procurement, pricing and offset partner in Rafale jet deal.”
- “There is no reason for interference in the choice of offset partner and perception of individuals can’t be the basis for roving inquiry in sensitive issue of defence procurement. No substantial evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity”.
- “We can’t compel government to purchase 126 aircrafts and it’s not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It isn’t the job of court to compare pricing details.”
- “We cannot sit judgement of the government of purchasing the number of aircrafts. Detailed scrutiny of Rafale deal is not required.”
- “There has been necessity of fighter aircraft and country cannot remain without fighter jets.”
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas on 14 November.
Advocate ML Sharma was the first petitioner in the case. Later, another lawyer Vineet Dhanda had moved the apex court with the plea for court-monitored probe into the deal.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh has also filed a petition against the fighter jet deal.
After the three petitions were filed, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with activist advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved the apex court with a plea for a direction to the CBI to register FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.
The Centre had defended the multi-billion-dollar deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and opposed public disclosure of the pricing details.
India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.
The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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