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Rafale Deal
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh probe into the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale jets on the basis of reports alleging payment of bribes by Dassault Aviation for getting the order. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat considered the submission of lawyer M L Sharma that a direction for issuance of a letter rogatory to collect fresh evidence relating to the deal be issued. The lawyer referred to media reports and sought issuance of direction for issuing letter rogatory to the Indian probe agency to enable them to secure evidence in the case from foreign countries. He said one billion Euros were allegedly paid by Dassault Aviation to some middleman to get the deal in its favour. Having gone through the facts and circumstances and the case on record, in our considered view, no case is made out for the exercise of jurisdiction of this court under Article 32 (provides right to move SC
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh probe into the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat considered lawyer M L Sharma's submission that a direction for issuing a letters rogatory to collect fresh evidence relating to the deal be issued. He also referred to some media reports alleging that one billion Euros was paid by Dassault Aviation to a middleman to get the deal in its favour. The bench refused to consider the fresh PIL. Sharma then decided to withdraw the PIL. On December 14, 2018, the apex court had dismissed a batch of PILs challenging the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.
The Congress on Tuesday once again accused the Modi government of indulging in corruption in the Rafale deal and said efforts were made to cover up the scam. The Rafale deal is the biggest scam in the country and the Modi government has continuously been misleading the country. The way the layers of the Rafale scam are being exposed, the truth of the Modi government is coming in front of the country, AICC national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said. Vallabh also alleged that the central government lifted ban on the procurement from a company which had been dubbed as corrupt by ruling BJP leaders over the Agusta choppers scam. The company was banned by the UPA government but now the ban has been lifted, he told reporters here. Vallabh also alleged that former Comptroller Auditor General of India Vinod Rai and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was active in the Lokpal movement, conspired against the then UPA government. He called PM Narendra Modi the leader of ...