Court seeks price details of Rafale jets

BENCH LED BY CHIEF JUSTICE GOGOI ALSO ASKED FOR THEIR STRATEGIC DETAILS

The Supreme Court yesterday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to provide within 10 days the pricing details of Rafale fighter jets.

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also asked the Narendra Modi-government to provide strategic details of the planes.

“The court would like to be apprised of the details with regard to pricing and cost particularly the advantages thereof, if any, which again will be submitted to the court in a sealed cover,” the court said.

Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that it would not be possible for the government to provide pricing details as this information had not been provided to Parliament either.

“The purchase of the 36 Rafale fighter jets concerned the national security. It was difficult for the government to share pricing details with the court,” Venugopal said.

The court, however, clarified that it was only seeking this information “for the purpose of satisfying ourselves”.

Last week, the government filed in the court details of the decision-making process for the purchase of Rafale jets from France’s Dassault Aviation. The details were submitted to court’s Secretary General in a sealed cover.

Yesterday, the court told Venugopal that it wanted the government to share the details of the decision-making process with the petitioners who had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the matter.