Rafale Deal Case: SC reserves verdict on petitions demanding probe

A crucial hearing reserved its order on pleas seeking court monitored probe in procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.The sensitive pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets which have been submitted by the Centre in a sealed cover will be examined by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.

बैकग्राउंड

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on pleas seeking court monitored probe in procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The sensitive pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets which have been submitted by the Centre in a sealed cover will be examined by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph. On Monday, the Centre placed in a sealed cover before the apex court, the price details of the jets that India is buying from France. The court had last month sought more information from the government on the deal, including details of its pricing. On the last hearing, the Centre was reluctant to share the price details and Attorney General K K Venugopal had told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that pricing details of these jets were not even shared with Parliament. The Centre also made public the document titled "Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order", which stated that the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been followed in the procurement of the Rafale aircraft. The petitioners are likely to respond to the contents of the documents in which it has been stated by the government that the deal for 36 Rafale jets was negotiated on "better terms" and the Defence Procurement Procedure laid out in 2013 were "completely followed". India had 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 estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore. On Tuesday, in a media interview, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier defended the contract and claimed no wrongdoing in the deal, asserting it was a “clean deal”. He asserted that his company chose Reliance as an offset partner. The Congress, however, dismissed his claims as "manufactured lies".

14/11/2018 15:50:55

CJI Ranjan Gogoi after hearing senior Indian Air Force officials on issue of Rafale Deal says "The Air Marshal and Vice-Marshals can go back. It is a different war game here in court. You can go to the actual war rooms."

14/11/2018 15:27:02

Rafale hearing ends. Supreme Court reserves its verdict on pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

14/11/2018 14:52:47

Centre tells the Supreme Court that there is no sovereign guarantee from French government on delivery of 36 Rafale jets but there is a letter of comfort from the French Prime Minister.

14/11/2018 14:45:56

Supreme Court asks Additional Secretary Defence as to why the offset guidelines were changed in 2015. What about country's interest? What if the offset partner doesn't do any production?

14/11/2018 14:41:36

Supreme Court asks about the change in offset guidelines in 2015. Addl Secretary of the Defence Ministry explains the defence offset guideline to the court and says that the offset contract runs concurrently with the main contract. AG KK Venugopal appearing for the Centre says, Dassault has not yet submitted details of offset partner to government.

14/11/2018 14:39:20

Addl Secretary, Defence apprises the Court of details of offset contract. Justice K M Joseph asks Addl Secy about offset details.

14/11/2018 14:35:48

Addl Secretary, Defence apprises the Court of details of offset contract. Justice K M Joseph asks Addl Secy about offset details.

14/11/2018 14:29:30

"What the HAL is making?" CJI Ranjan Gogoi asks Air Vice Marshal Chalapathi. "Sukhoi 30," he replies. Also, the CJI asks Chalapathi about latest inductions to Indian Air Force. He says that Sukhoi-30 was the latest induction and that India needed 4 plus generation fighters that is why the Rafale jet was selected.

14/11/2018 14:14:07

Air Vice Marshal Chalapathi is present inside Court number 1 and answering the questions put forth by CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

14/11/2018 14:12:59

Supreme Court hearing in the Rafale deal case begins after lunch break. Four IAF officials including Vice Chief of the Air Staff present in the court. Attorney General K K Venugopal introduces them to the bench

14/11/2018 14:12:50

Supreme Court hearing in the Rafale deal case begins after lunch break. Four IAF officials including Vice Chief of the Air Staff present in the court. Attorney General K K Venugopal introduces them to the bench

14/11/2018 13:01:45

Supreme Court hearing on Rafale deal paused for lunch break, will resume at 2pm.

14/11/2018 12:56:43

AG KK Venugopal says pricing details have been given in a sealed cover but there are factors like inter governmental agreement which barred its disclosure. CJI Ranjan Gogoi says any debate on pricing of the Rafale deal comes only if this Court decides those aspects needs to come in public domain.

14/11/2018 12:52:35

AG KK Venugopal appearing for the Centre tells SC that secrecy is not on the price of aircraft but on weaponry and avionics. The price of Rafale with break up of weapons and avionics has been shared with the Court, but the SC cannot sit in judicial review on it.

14/11/2018 12:44:37

AG K K Venugopal: This issue is related to the national security. It's a matter of experts. Judiciary cannot decide on technology. Petitions have been filed on the basis of the media reports. The court should think if it's able to consider this issue.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi: Discussion on price details will take place only when we permit.
AG K K Venugopal: I'm grateful

14/11/2018 12:37:43

Supreme Court: We are dealing with requirements of Air Force and would like to ask an Air Force officer about fighter jet. CJI Ranjan Gogoi asks AG KK Venugopal: "Is there any officer from Indian Air Force present in court to answer the queries on the issue? After all we are dealing with the air force, we would have liked to ask from the officer of Air force on the issue."

14/11/2018 12:48:17

Prashant Bhushan alleges that there was a conspiracy with French company Dassault, which granted the offset right to Reliance, and it amounts to gratification and constitutes an offence. He says Reliance has no competence of executing the offset contract. Bhushan says the petition by them has been filed after the CBI did not register the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

14/11/2018 12:49:24

Prashant Bhushan says the price per aircraft was 155 million Euro and now, it was 270 million Euro. This shows that there was hike of 40 per cent in its price. He says the CBI is bound to register an FIR in this case.

14/11/2018 12:34:45

Rafale hearing: Supreme Court refuses to take on record some papers which Arun Shourie wanted to place before it.

14/11/2018 12:32:11

Rafale hearing: Supreme Court refuses to take on record some papers which Arun Shourie wanted to place before it.

14/11/2018 12:08:40

Arun Shourie: Experienced firm like Dassault Aviation, which was established in 1929, cannot choose an inexperienced firm as its partner. That firm was on the brink of bankruptcy. People's money is involved and they're hiding the pricing details.

14/11/2018 12:00:03

Prashant Bhushan tells SC that the government is hiding behind the secrecy clause and has not disclosed the price of Rafale jets. CJI Ranjan Gogoi tells him: "We are giving you full hearing. Use it carefully, cite only necessary things".

14/11/2018 12:11:49

Prashant Bhushan submits that nobody knows about the alleged change in the deal done by the prime minister and even the defence minister was not aware about the the change.

14/11/2018 12:13:20

Prashant Bhushan raises the same point as Sanjau Singh and says three and a half years have passed since the deal was signed on 36 Rafale jets but no aircraft has been received till now. He says the first jet is to be delivered in September 2019 and delivery to continue till 2022. "If the 126 aircraft deal was still on, at least 18 jets would have been delivered by April 2019," he submits.

14/11/2018 11:57:26

Attorney General K K Venugopal opposes advocate Prashant Bhushan who wants to submit information on secrecy clause of Rafale agreement.

14/11/2018 11:51:26

Prashant Bhushan: "How can the security of the country be compromised by revealing the price details? Price was quoted in the Parliament two times. Did the government violate the privacy agreement then? According to reliable sources, the price of fully equipped aircraft was 155 million euros. Now there it's 217 million euros. Why did this happen?"

14/11/2018 11:44:21

Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan also filed a joint petition. Hearing is currently underway in the top court.

14/11/2018 11:31:07

During the hearing, the petitioners who have sought a court-monitored investigation into the deal, will also make submissions.

14/11/2018 11:30:24

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for former Union minister Arun Shourie, who is also one of the petitioners in the Rafale deal case, submitted to the three-judge bench that only in three situations, the intergovernmental route can be resorted and that there was no sovereign guarantee from the side of the France government in the deal.

14/11/2018 11:29:19

AP MP Sanjay Singh has also filed a petition. Counsel appearing for Singh told the bench that pricing of the 36 Rafale aircraft deal was revealed in the Parliament twice, hence, the submission of government that pricing details cannot be made public was not acceptable.

14/11/2018 11:28:18

Manohar Lal Sharma told the court that the report filed by the government in the court reveals that there has been serious fraud while making the decision post-May 2015. The petitioner urged the top court that the matter be heard by a five-judge bench.

14/11/2018 11:27:10

The initial arguments are being commenced by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, who told the court that the Inter-Government Agreement was "illegal" and sought an investigation in the matter.

14/11/2018 11:26:12

On Monday, the Centre placed in a sealed cover before the apex court, the price details of the jets that India is buying from France. The court had last month sought more information from the government on the deal, including details of its pricing.