SC order on pleas for Rafale probe today

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 13

The Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its order on 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 — which had reserved the predict on November 13 on the contentious issue — is scheduled to pronounce it at 10.30 am.

The Bench had heard 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.

For the first time, four senior IAF officers — three Air Marshals and an Air Vice-Marshal — and Additional Secretary (Defence) had appeared in the top court to explain various aspects of a defence deal.

Venugopal had said 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. “Even Parliament has not been told about the complete cost of jets,” he had said defending the non-disclosure clause of Rafale deal.

Following the court’s October 31 order, the Centre had on submitted in a sealed cover the pricing details of 36 Rafale jets.