Government files writ petition for corrections and directions in the SC judgment on Rafale deal

Yesterday, the Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered its much awaited verdict on the Rafale deal petitions filed by Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha et al. The Court observed that it was satisfied with the decision-making process in the deal and concurred with the government’s stance on the disclosure of pricing details. More importantly, the Hon’ble Court upheld the validity of the secrecy clause, rubbishing the opposition’s claims with regard to the IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement).

However, not willing to let go of the fictional scam, Congress president Rahul Gandhi along with his support system have come up with a new issue with regard to the judgment. Paragraph 25 of the judgment states:

“The pricing details have, however, been shared with Comptroller and Auditor General [hereinafter referred to as “CAG”], and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee [hereinafter referred to as “PAC”].   Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before the Parliament and is in public domain.”

However, Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, stated that he has not seen either the CAG report (as stated in the detailed judgment of the Court) or the report presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of which he is the chief.

The opposition is now portraying the non-availability of the CAG report to the PAC as the government’s effort to hide the details or mislead the Court with certain aspects of the Rafale deal.

However, the government has already filed a writ petition for corrections and directions with regard to the concerned paragraph in the Supreme Court judgment.

In the application, the government clarifies that in the original note (in sealed cover) submitted to the Supreme Court in compliance with the order dated 31.10.2018, the concerned paragraph clearly stated that the report “has been shared with the CAG”.

However, from hereon, the paragraph in the judgment containing the note submitted by the government is different and seems to have been misinterpreted by the Court.

The government’s application further states that the original note submitted to the Court stated that the “report is examined by the PAC” which has been misinterpreted as “Has been examined by the PAC” in the SC judgment. The application explains that the note describes the procedure and not the event with regard to the CAG report examination by the PAC. Furthermore, the application states that the statement in the judgment “Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before the parliament” was in original note submitted to SC “Only a redacted portion of the report is placed before the parliament”, once again describing the procedure and not the event.

As is very clear, the purported discrepancy in the judgment is not due to the government’s inability or unwillingness to put forth the details but misinterpretation of some lines. The government has promptly filed a writ petition for corrections and directions to rectify the issues in the judgment once again showing transparency with regard to the details of the Rafale deal. 

It is evident that the Opposition’s hue and cry over the purported discrepancy is nothing but another last ditch attempt to revive the fictional scam which has been buried after the SC verdict. Needless to say, this once again, shows the incompetency of the opposition and their inability to accept defeat.

[ The writ petition for corrections and directions filed by the government can be accessed here.]