The controversy surrounding the Rafale matter had eventually come to an end when the Supreme Court bench had given the NDA government a clean chit, dismissing all petitions on 14th December, 2018. During the said judgment on the Rafale deal, the apex court had taken into account three broad areas of concern, namely, the decision making process, difference in pricing and the choice of Indian Offset Partner (IOP). The court, while respecting the confidentiality of the matter held that it is not necessary to dwell into this issue and dismissed the writ petitions.
Thereafter, on the basis of confidential reports published by ‘The Hindu’, petitions were filed, seeking review of the December 14th judgment. These review petitions were filed by the former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie and noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan. However, the documents relied on by the petitioners were stolen from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The Attorney General KK Venugopal objected to reliance of these documents by saying that they were ‘stolen’ from the Ministry of Defence, and said that they were protected by ‘privilege’ under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act and under the Official Secrets Act and that their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a).
The Supreme Court, however dismissed the preliminary objections by the centre against use of ‘privileged documents’. The Court said that the review petitions will be heard on merits on a later date.
While pronouncing the judgment on 14th December, the court had stated, “In view of our findings on all the three aspects, and having heard the matter in detail, we find no reason for any intervention by this Court on the sensitive issue of purchase of 36 defence aircrafts by the Indian Government. Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a fishing and roving enquiry by this Court, especially in such matters. We, thus, dismiss all the writ petitions.”
The opposition, however, clearly perturbed by the Supreme Court’s judgment is trying to implicate an honest government for corruption. “Congress has been destroyed by defence scams. So they try to make the same allegations against all governments,” PM Modi stated.
Nevertheless, something that is noteworthy here is that the review petition does not supersede or revoke the earlier judgment by the Supreme Court. There is no stay in the previous judgment. This petition is a separate case, and will be decided on its own merits. The government has proved the transparency of the Rafale deal time and again, and has delivered corruption free governance throughout its term. Not once have they been accused of being involved in scam unlike their predecessors. So therefore, this exercise is a futile effort, wasting the time of the apex court along with the resources of the tax payer.
Moreover, the government has even received a clean chit from the CAG, whose report, submitted on the last day of parliament stated, “The deal under NDA at 7.87 billion Euros for 36 jets was 2.86 percent cheaper than the price that was being negotiated by the UPA in 2012.”
Modi government has this golden opportunity to prove its integrity on merits of the case. As there is no proof against the NDA government of any bribery, conspiracy or malfeasance, the government will once again destroy the false corruption charges and emerge victorious.