NEW DELHI: Claiming that the Supreme Court judgment on the Rafale case was “void” as it was based on “false and misleading submissions” by the Centre, the Congress on Sunday demanded an immediate recall of the apex court verdict and a notice to be issued to the Modi government for perjury and contempt of court.
The Congress also urged the Supreme Court to not entertain the Centre’s Saturday application seeking rectification of errors in the judgment, which the government claimed “occurred, perhaps, on account of misinterpretation” by the court.
At the centre of controversy is paragraph 25 of the judgment in which the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-led bench observed: “The pricing details have, however, been shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the CAG report has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before Parliament and is in public domain.”
However, PAC Chairman Mallikarjun Kharge and the Congress have maintained that “no portion of the CAG report has been placed before Parliament or was in the public domain”.
Stepping up the attack against the Modi regime, Congress leader Anand Sharma said that the Modi government not only committed perjury by making false assertions before the court but was also guilty of breach of parliamentary privileges.
“The Supreme Court judgment is not only self-contradictory but is shocking in terms of having factual inaccuracies that are a result of false and misleading submissions made by the government.
“We demand that the Supreme Court immediately recalls the judgment which is void as it is made on the premise of false submission by the government. The entire episode has dented the dignity of the highest court in the country and it should give notice to the Modi government for perjury and contempt of court,” Sharma told the media here.
The former union minister flayed the Modi government over its Saturday plea to rectify two sentences in the para 25 of the judgment where due to “misinterpretation” by the court, saying “is” was interpreted as “has been” at one place and as “was” in another.
“What the Modi government has done is unprecedented and its curative petition adds only to the injury it has caused to the Supreme Court. Instead of admitting its lies and apologizing, it is giving grammar lessons to the Chief Justice and his fellow judges. (IANS)
No JPC: Jaitley
Ruling out referring the Rafale deal to a parliamentary panel, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Congress, calling it “bad losers” and said the CAG’s view of the deal is not relevant after the Supreme Court’s clean chit.
“After the Supreme Court has spoken the last word, it gets legitimacy. A political body can never come to a finding contrary to what the Court has said,” Jaitley wrote in a Facebook blog, titled ‘Rafale – Lies, Shortlived lies and now further lies?’.
On the Congress claiming ‘ambiguity’ in the Supreme Court judgment, Jaitley said defence transactions go to the CAG for an audit review, which then are referred to the PAC.
