On Wednesday, the Apex Court of India sought details from the Central government on the allotment process of Rafale jet deal that resulted in purchasing the aircraft from the French firm Dassault Aviation.
However, according to sources, the Supreme Court bench comprising of the newly appointed CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice KM Joseph and SK Kaul, stated that the bench was not asking for any specifications in regards to the fighter jet or pricing, but wanted to be assured about the process of the appointment.
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“We are not issuing any notice to the government, we only want to be satisfied about the legitimacy of the decision-making process,” the bench said in a statement.
It was further reported that the Apex court has also set October 31 for hearing of the PIL’s in this context, and has asked the government to submit the certification report by October 29.
Standing on behalf of the central Government Attorney general KK Venugopal had argued, said sources, that the petitioners were using and quoting texts presented in the Parliament to file the PIL’s, and this proved that they were done with a political vendetta, and such cases holds no merit. He termed them ‘Political Interest Petitions’.
The Attorney General further argued, “These political interest petitions are filed on the eve of elections when the government and opposition are locked in a bitter fight over the Rafale jet deal,”
However, the Supreme Court clarified that it was not considering the allegations that were made in the petitions.
Nevertheless, the Government’s appeal to turn down the petitions as they were made only to gain political mileage was not considered by the top court
