Supreme Court tells Modi govt to give details about Rafale deal
News | October 10, 2018 12:42 ISTWithout issuing a notice, Supreme Court has sought a report from the Union of India with respect to the decision making process.
Without issuing a notice, Supreme Court has sought a report from the Union of India with respect to the decision making process.
The Supreme Court, however, made it clear that it does not want information on pricing and technical details of deal.
A plea which was filed earlier by Advocate ML Sharma, alleging discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and seeking a stay on it will also come up for hearing on Wednesday.
The PIL, filed before the apex court, seeks a direction to the Centre to reveal details of the deal and comparative prices during the UPA and NDA rule to the apex court in a sealed cover.
During the last meeting, Congress had submitted a 20-point memorandum with history of the deal and ‘proof of how the current NDA government distorted the original tender’ signed by its predecessor UPA government.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the Rafale issue is 20 times bigger than the Bofors issue but the media is "not giving any importance like before".
The opposition led by the Congress has been accusing the government of benefitting Ambani's Reliance Defence Ltd. from the Rafale deal.
The CWC meeting was presided over by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and attended among others by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
When asked if PM Modi was authorised to take a call on reducing the number of aircraft to be purchased without consulting the Indian Air Force, Sitharaman said that the prime minister doesn't require such permission.
Pawar had caused a flutter with his remarks that he didn't think that people have doubts about Modi's intentions in the purchase of fighter jets from France.
The Government of India has nothing to do with Anil Ambani’s company, he further clarified.
She said that Hollande's claims came at a time when he himself was facing allegations that his partner had received “some funds for some purpose”.
Accusing the previous UPA government of being in touch with "brokers", Sitharaman alleged that the Congress government did not buy important equipment required for the defence force.
Patel's statement came after NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar quit the party and announced that he is giving up his Lok Sabha membership saying he left aggrieved by the party's national president Sharad Pawar's "clean chit" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the fighter aircraft deal.
Anwar was a Lok Sabha member from Katihar in Bihar. The Muslim leader was a prominent NCP face in Bihar.
The sources said the process is designed to ensure utmost integrity and transparency while allowing for "opinions to be freely expressed, recorded, discussed and, if necessary, modified".
He was replying to a question if France had been asked to use the Reliance group as the Indian partner for the Rafael deal made when Francois Hollande was the President
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, Macron described Rafale as a "government-to-government" discussion.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will go ahead with the purchase of fighter jets from France to strengthen the Indian Air Force (IAF).
"All in all, it was a very good deal, much better than what was obtained in 2008," the Deputy Chief of Air Staff said.
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