Supreme Court seeks pricing, offset partner details of Rafale deal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought more information from the government on the Rafale combat jet deal including details of its pricing and deemed advantagesThe court would also like to be apprised of the details with regard to the pricing cost particularly the advantage thereof if any which again will be submitted to the court in a sealed cover the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice KM Joseph saidThe court told the Centre that it should state in an affidavit the difficulty in sharing the information on pricing after Attorney General KK Venugopal said it might not be possible to disclose the costBesides pricing the court said the further details that could legitimately come in the public domain with regard to the induction of the Indian offset partner if any be also furnished to thecounsels for the parties as well as the petitioners in personHowever the court clarified that details which the government may at this stage consider to be strategic and confidential be submitted to the court without sharing it with the counsel for the petitionersWednesdays order asking the government to disclose the pricing of Rafale deal is significant as in its October 10 order the court had specifically said We also make it clear that the steps in the decision making process that we would like to be apprised of would not cover the issue of pricingWhile seeking information on the pricing cost of the deal the court noted that in none of the public interest litigations the suitability of the equipment fighter jets and its utility to the Indian Air Force have been questionedHowever what has been questioned is the bona fides of the decision making process and the price cost of the equipment at which the same is to be procured the court noted in its orderSaying that at this stage it would not record any finding or views on the details of the steps in the decision making process the court however ordered the government to share with the petitioners details of the decision making process that can be legitimately shared with themwe are of the opinion that such of the core information conveyed to the court in theconfidential report which can legitimately be brought into the public domain be made available to the learned counsels for the petitioners in all the cases as well as the petitioners in person the court order saidAs counsel Prashant Bhushan drew the attention of the court towards their prayer for direction to the CBI to register an FIR on the complaint made by them and carry out investigation the Chief Justice told him to wait apparently indicating to the current turmoil in the investigating agencyFormer Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha former Minister and rebel BJP leader Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan had on October 4 made a complaint seeking registration of FIR and probe into the Rafale dealCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever