Rafale row: All rules followed, says govt

NEW DELHI: On the day the Congress escalated its attack on the government over a media report suggesting that a bureaucrat red-flagged the purchase of Rafale jets on account of price, the defence ministry clarified that the deal was negotiated through a process involving due deliberations and diligence at various levels.

“The officer in question from the ministry of defence headquarters had signed the note considered and approved by the cabinet committee on security (CCS) on August 24, 2016. Thereafter, he proceeded for a oneweek training programme in September 2016 and not on leave for which he had applied to the department of personnel and training (DoPT) in July 2016,” said an official familiar with the developments.

The Indian Express reported on Thursday that nearly a month before the deal for 36 Rafale aircraft was signed between then defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart in New Delhi in September 2016, Rajiv Verma, joint secretary and acquisition manager (Air) in the defence ministry, then part of the contract negotiations committee (CNC), raised questions about the deal’s benchmark price and put his objections on record.

Speaking to a news channel, Verma on Thursday said he had not gone on leave in protest, and that his leave was for a planned training. The report further said the official’s objections were later “overruled” by the director general (acquisition) Smitha Nagaraj.