Negotiated with France for a year, followed 2013 procedure: Govt submits documents on Rafale to SC

Nov 12 (AZINS) The Centre on Monday complied with a Supreme Court order and submitted documents detailing the procedure that led to the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

The document titled "Details of the steps in the decision-making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order" stated that the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been followed in the procurement of the Rafale aircraft.

"Negotiations with French side went for about a year and approval of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was taken before signing the agreement," Centre said in the document.

The government also claimed that the approval of Defence Acquisition Council for aircraft was taken and Indian team negotiated with the French side.

According to some reports, the pricing details have also been submitted by the government in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court.

The documents were also supplied to the petitioners as per the apex court's October 31 order.

The Supreme court had earlier asked the government to share pricing and strategic details of Rafale fighter-jet aircraft in a sealed envelope. The top court has directed the Centre to submit details about the pricing of Rafale jets and it's advantages in 10 days.

The Attorney General objected to this demand claiming this information is not privy even to Parliament. The court also asked to supply the information to petitioners which can be put in public domain.

"Details considered strategic and confidential may be shared in a sealed cover with the court," said the CJI headed bench.

India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

The petitions seeking the probe in the Rafale deal were first filed by advocates Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda.

Later, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also filed the petition.

Former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and acivist lawyer Prashant Bhushan also filed a joint petition.