Supreme Court dismisses plea for probe in Rafale jets’ deal

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice SK Kaul and KM Joseph have said there is no reason for the court to intervene and dismissed pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets. “There is no occasion to doubt decision-making process in Rafale deal,” the three-judge bench said, which comes as a huge relief to the Narendra Modi government.

The court said it cannot sit on the perception of individuals. It said that press interviews (presumably with former French President Francois Hollande) can’t be the basis for a probe. “We can’t judge the jet purchase and there is no reason for the court to intervene,” it said. It added there was no commercial favourtism in the purchase of the Rafale jets.

The court delivered an unanimous judgment and said pricing details must be kept confidential. The Congress has accused the Modi-government of corruption and crony capitalism. The court added that the “quality of the jet is not in doubt and the country cannot be allowed to be unprepared.”  The apex court on November 14 had reserved its judgment in the case. The apex court heard petitioners and the government lawyers before reserving the verdict in the case.

During the arguments, the top court was informed by former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan that the decision making process for acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and the consequent increase in price and grant of offsets to Reliance was “not bona fide”and “requires investigation by the CBI.”