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Revealing pricing details can give enemies an edge, Centre tells Supreme Court in Rafale case
The pricing details of the controversial deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, submitted by the Centre in a sealed cover, is scheduled to be examined by the Supreme Court today.
Bhadra Sinha Updated: Nov 14, 2018 17:57 IST
New Delhi
The Centre defended the secrecy clause related to the pricing of the 36 Rafale fighter jets in the Supreme Court on Wednesday and said it cannot divulge details of the deal, stating that adversaries may get advantages if the entire details on the pricing is disclosed.
These matters are for the experts to deal with and “we have been saying that even Parliament has not been told about the complete cost of jets”, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the court.
Defending the secrecy clause, he said, “Our adversaries may get advantages if the entire details on the pricing is disclosed.”
The court reserved its order on pleas seeking court monitored probe in procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph concluded the arguments advanced by various parties which have also sought registration of FIR in connection with the alleged irregularities in the deal.
During the hearing, Venugopal said he would not be able to assist the court further on the pricing issue. “I decided not to peruse it myself as in a case of any leak, my office would be held responsible,” he said, according to PTI.
The bench 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,” the bench said.
The court also sought clarifications from a senior defence ministry official who was present.
Venugopal said the Air Force had been writing to the government that “it will be difficult for them to defend our country due to shortage of aircraft” and the country had fallen behind a lot.
He had earlier explained why the government had been reluctant to share the price of the fighter jets with the court and contested claims by the petitioners that the government had ever placed the pricing details of fully-loaded planes in public domain.
The attorney general, who had earlier refused to share the pricing details with the court, said the government had decided to place the entire price of the aircraft along with the weaponry “out of respect” for the top court. “It is not a matter where one could review it judicially, especially if they are based on rumours, media reports,” he said.
Petitioners in the Rafale deal case had earlier told the Supreme Court that the government had committed a ‘serious fraud’ in the purchase of the 36 jets from France.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...tails-today/story-gURxgFWtW5mNANOvuFfsCI.html