New Delhi: The government on Wednesday refused to make public details related to the pricing of the 36 Rafale fighter jets in the Supreme Court, saying “our adversaries may get an advantage” by such a disclosure.
Two days after the government submitted to the apex court in a sealed cover details of pricing of the Rafale deal, Attornet General K K Venugopal defended the secrecy clause related to the pricing of jets before a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
To the government’s submission, the bench, which also comprised justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said any discussion on pricing of the Rafale fighter jets can only take place if the facts on the deal are allowed to come in the public domain.
“The decision we need to take is whether to bring the fact on pricing in public domain or not,” said bench and noted that without bringing the facts in public domain, there was no question of any debate on the pricing of the planes.
Asserting that the decision on types of aircraft and weapons that need to be bought was a matter for experts and not an issue to be adjudicated upon by the judiciary, Venugopal said, “even Parliament has not been told about the complete cost of jets”.
Responding to allegation by Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners, that there was no sovereign guarantee by France for the deal, the attorney general admitted that there is no sovereign guarantee, but asserted that there is a letter of comfort by France which would be as good as a governmental guarantee.
Venugopal also submitted that in the earlier contract (during UPA government), the jets were not to be loaded with requisite weapons system and the reservation of the government was due to the fact that it did not want to violate the clause of the Inter Government Agreement and the secrecy clause.
IAF officers assist
SC on Rafale deal case
Deputy Chief of Air staff, Air Marshal V R Chaudhari and two other officers from Indian Air Force appeared in the Supreme Court Wednesday to assist it on the issue of the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
The officers appeared before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had sought their assistance in the case.
“We are dealing with the requirements of the Air Force and would like to ask an Air Force officer on Rafale jets. We want to hear from an Air force officer and not the official of the Defence Ministry on the issue,” the bench said when the Attorney General began his arguments on behalf of the Centre in the pre-lunch session on Wednesday.
The hearing on the pleas seeking probe in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal is currently underway. (PTI)
