Rafale Deal: No Need For Discussion on Pricing For Now, Says Supreme Court

New Delhi, November 14: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said there was no need to discuss pricing in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The apex court also made it clear that details of pricing in Rafale deal won't be revealed unless it grants permission to do so. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi was hearing on pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal.

"Any debate on pricing of the Rafale deal comes only if this Court decides those aspects needs to come in public domain," Justice Gogoi said. "We have to take decision till then the price part will remain as it is," he added. During the hearing, the CJI also asked Attorney General K K Venugopal if pricing details of earlier deal revealed in public to which the latter responded in negative. Rafale Jet Coming From France to India Will Look Like This; First Video Out.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of himself and former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, said the government's argument that it cannot disclose price due to secrecy agreement is bogus. "On price, they can't be any security issue when they have announced it in parliament. It's a bogus argument when they say price can't be disclosed because of secrecy," he said.

“Secrecy agreement has to be secret and how he is producing it in court,” Venugopal said when Bhushan raised the issue of secrecy clause. Bhushan said the price per aircraft was 155 million Euro and now, it was 270 million Euro. This shows that there was a hike of 40 per cent in its price, the advocate said. He said the CBI is bound to register an FIR in this case. Rafale Row: 'I Don't Lie, Anil Ambani's Firm Was Our Choice', Says Dassault CEO Eric Trappier in Stinging Retort to Rahul Gandhi.

Advocates M L Sharma, Vineet Dhanda and AAP MP Sanjay Singh, also advanced their arguments before Bhushan. Sharma, who opened the argument, told the court that the IGA was “illegal” and sought an investigation into the matter. Dhanda sought a proper reply from the Centre on his plea questioning the Rafale deal.

AAP leader’s counsel Dheeraj Singh asked as to why the government reduced the deal of 126 jets to 36. He said the government should have increased the number of jets when there was a concern that adversaries were inducting more fighter jets.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2018 01:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).