In a huge victory for the Centre, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all the petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation into the Rafale deal. Dismissing the petitions, a bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, clarified that the apex court has not found any material to show that the deal was a commercial favouritism.
"Perception of individuals cannot form the basis for interference... There is no occasion to doubt decision-making process in the Rafale deal," the judgment said. The top court said it is not the job of the court to deal with the comparative details of the pricing.
Four pleas were filed by six petitioners—M.L. Sharma, Vineet Dhanda, Sanjay Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan—in the Supreme Court seeking a court-assisted probe into the Centre's deal with French firm Dassault Aviation to buy 36 fighter jets for a total of Rs 58,000 crore. The PIL alleged that there is prima facie evidence of commission of cognizable offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act by public servants in the Rafale deal.
On November 14, the court had reserved orders on the petitions alleging corruption and procedural irregularities in the deal for procurement of 36 jets from the French company.
The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
While reserving the verdict, the apex court had said that the pricing details of Rafale jets could only be discussed after it decides on whether to make it public.
The observation by an apex court bench had came after the government refused to publicly divulge pricing details of the deal, saying it would give advantage to India's enemies.
Vehemently defending non-disclosure of price publicly, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for Centre had said the cost of a bare Rafale jet as per 2016 exchange rate was Rs 670 crore and the disclosure of price of a "fully loaded" aircraft would give an "advantage to the adversaries".
The court during the hearing on the bunch of pleas had also interacted senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers and enquired about the requirements of the force.
The IAF officers had emphasised in the apex court the need for induction of 'four plus or fifth' generation fighter aircraft like Rafale, which have niche stealth technology and enhanced electronic warfare capabilities.
(With PTI inputs)
