There is No Need of Roving Inquiry into Rafale Deal, Says SC while Rejecting Review Petitions

The Supreme Court has refused to review petitions on the Rafale deal and said that there is lack of merits

It was on Thursday that the Supreme Court refused to review petitions giving clean chit to the Modi government in the Rafale fighter jet deal which was signed with the French firm Dassault Aviation. The court in its ruling said that

“We don’t feel it necessary to order an FIR or a roving inquiry into the Rafale deal case.”

“We find the review petitions are without any merit,”

the top court said in its decision. 

The apex court had reserved the decision on the petitions related to the deal on 10th May. There was a petition from the former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, along with activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan. They requested the court to re-examine its findings that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the obtainment of 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation.

In their petition, the ministers and the activist alleged that the 2018 judgment of the court

“relied upon patently incorrect claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover”

to the SC. Apart from this, they have also wished for an oral hearing of the petition in an open court.

The center said that the petitioners completely rely on the media reports and they can’t open the case again. The articles claimed that the central government had not presented all the details about the deal in the court.

The SC has also dismissed the contempt case that was filed against the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for inappropriately using his “chowkidar chor hai” remark against PM Modi in the Rafale case to the top court. The case against him was filed by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, which has now been dismissed. 

As the decision was announced by the SC on the petition, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that he welcomes the verdict by the top court. He also has demanded an apology from the Congress for their allegations.

The apex court, on 14th December, ruled that there was no reason to question the decision-making process behind the Rafale deal, giving a clean chit to the Modi government. The decision by the SC has clearly exposed the motive of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to defame PM Narendra Modi.  He has been repeatedly accusing the Modi government of corruption in the Rs. 59,000-crore contract. 

The court rejected an investigation and dismissed petitions accusing the government to have gone for an overpriced deal in an attempt to help industrialist Anil Ambani’s firm to get the contract with Dassault.

“There is no evidence of commercial favoritism to any private entity,”

the court said in its ruling.