New Delhi: In a major victory for the Narendra Modi government, India;s Supreme Court on Friday ruled out instituting a court-monitored probe into the multibillion dollar Rafale jet deal saying it found “no substantial evidence of any commercial favouritism.”
“Having heard the matter in detail, we find no reason for any intervention by this court on the sensitive issue. The perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a fishing and roving inquiry by this court, especially in such matters,” sa three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
The opposition Congress party has repeatedly accused the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of corruption in the Rs590 billion (Dh30.11 billion) deal for 36 jets.
However, supporting the deal, the apex court said the country cannot afford to be unprepared in a situation where “our adversaries are stated to have acquired not only fourth generation, but even fifth generation aircraft, of which we have none”.
The bench said the need for the aircraft was not in doubt.
“We cannot sit in judgement over the wisdom of deciding to go in for purchase of 36 aircraft in place of 126. We cannot possibly compel the government to go in for purchase of 126 aircraft. There is no proof of any wrongdoing in the deal,” the judges said.
Reacting to court’s observation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said the verdict vindicated the government’s stand that there was no corruption or nepotism in the deal.
“Truth always triumphs. The court’s judgement on the Rafale deal exposes the campaign of misinformation spearheaded by Congress president Rahul Gandhi for political gains. The court didn’t find anything wrong with the process, nor did it find any commercial favouritism in the deal,” Shah tweeted.
He also sought an apology from Gandhi for “raising childish allegations against the PM.”
“For so long, they kept saying that the country’s watchman is a thief, but the truth has finally been revealed. If you try to sling mud at the sun, the mud will only land on yourself,” Shah told media later.
He said the verdict was a “slap on the face of those who do politics based on lies”.
“Why did Congress not approach the Supreme Court if it has evidence of corruption? The doors of the Supreme Court are open to everyone. It is clear that they knew their allegations were baseless, without any facts to back them. Everything they said was based on lies,” the BJP president claimed.
Welcoming the judgement, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, “every deal is not [like the] Bofors deal. It is the culture and tradition of Congress and its top leadership to mint money from such deals on the cost of country’s national security.”
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal also hailed the verdict as “excellent.”
“I think a clean chit has been given to the government on Rafale deal. The judgement is excellent and I am extremely happy. The court has accepted all our arguments,” Venugopal said.
Congress leaders, however, said the ruling was “not a setback at all.”
“The verdict of the Supreme Court is a validation of what the Congress party stated months ago that the Supreme Court is not the forum to decide such sensitive defence contracts,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
He said the party would keep up its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the deal.
“The government gave one-sided, half-baked information to the Supreme Court which has not been scrutinised by anyone. If they have nothing to hide, I challenge PM Modi and his government to submit to a JPC probe which will question and go into the corruption in the defence deal,” Surjewala added.
Criticising the verdict, senior lawyer and civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan, who is one of the petitioners in the case, described it as “completely incorrect.”
He said the rules laid down in the Procurement Procedure were flouted by the NDA government.
“There were indications that there were wrongdoings in the deal and they need to be probed. That is all what we had asked of the Supreme Court. The Air Force has always maintained that they needed 126 aircraft, they have never said that 36 is enough, then there is the question about the pricing. The government has given details of pricing in a sealed cover and we never got any information about the pricing,” he said.
