The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a group of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, in a deal worth Rs. 59,000 crore.
The apex court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.
"Questions raised on Rafale deal only after ex-French prez Hollande came out with statement, which can't be basis of judicial review," said SC.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it "sees no reason to intervene" in the defence deal as the four petitions sought a court-monitored probe into the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets in a fly-away condition from Dassault Aviation.
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The Centre had defended the deal while admitting that there was "no sovereign guarantee from France, but there is a letter of comfort..."
The petitions seeking the probe were filed by Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, advocates M.L.Sharma and Vineet Dhanda, and AAP lawmaker in Parliament Sanjay Singh.
The court during the hearing on the bunch of pleas had also interacted senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers and enquired about the requirements of the force.
The IAF officers had emphasised in the apex court the need for induction of 'four plus or fifth' generation fighter aircraft like Rafale, which have niche stealth technology and enhanced electronic warfare capabilities.
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The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
On pricing, the court reiterated that it wasn’t its job to examine specific financial details such as the cost of an individual aircraft.
"This is not the court's job to deal with pricing details of Rafale fighter jets," the apex court said.
Following is the chronology of events in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France:
-Dec 30, 2002: Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP) adopted to streamline procurement procedures.
-Aug 28, 2007: Ministry of Defence issues Request for Proposal for procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters.
-Sep 4, 2008: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group incorporates Reliance Aerospace Technologies Ltd (RATL).
-May 2011: Air Force shortlists Rafale and Eurofighter jets.
-Jan 30, 2012: Dassault Aviation's Rafale aircraft comes up with the lowest bid.
-Mar 13, 2014: Work Share agreement signed between HAL and Dassault Aviation under which they were responsible for 70 per cent and 30 per cent of the work, respectively, for 108 aircraft.
-Aug 8, 2014: Then defence minister Arun Jaitley tells Parliament that 18 direct 'fly-away' aircraft expected to be delivered in 3-4 years from signing of the contract. Remaining 108 aircraft to be delivered in the next seven years.
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-Apr 8, 2015: The then foreign secretary says detailed discussions underway between Dassault, MoD and HAL.
-Apr 10: New deal for acquisition of 36 direct 'fly-away' aircraft from France announced.
-Jan 26, 2016: India and France sign MoU for 36 Rafale aircraft.
-Sep 23: Inter-governmental agreement signed.
-Nov 18: Government states in Parliament that the cost of each Rafale aircraft to be approximately Rs 670 crore and that all aircraft will be delivered by April 2022.
-Dec 31, 2016: Dassault Aviation's Annual Report reveals the actual price paid for the 36 aircrafts at about Rs 60,000 crore, more than double the government's stated price in Parliament.
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-Mar 13, 2018: PIL in SC seeks independent probe into Centre's decision to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and disclosure of the cost involved in the deal before Parliament.
-Sep 5: SC agrees to hear PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal.
-Sep 18: SC adjourns hearing on PIL seeking stay on Rafale fighter jet deal to October 10.
-Oct 8: SC agrees to hear on October 10 fresh PIL seeking direction to Centre to file in "sealed cover" the details of the agreement for buying 36 Rafale fighter Jets.
-Oct 10: SC asks Centre to provide details of decision making process in the Rafale fighter jet deal in a sealed cover.
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-Oct 24: Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan moves SC, seeking registration of FIR into Rafale fighter jet deal.
-Oct 31: SC asks Centre to place before it in a sealed cover within 10 days the pricing details of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
-Nov 12: Centre places price details of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a sealed cover before SC. It also gives details of steps that led to finalisation of the Rafale deal.
-Nov 14: SC reserves order on pleas seeking court-monitored probe in Rafale deal.
-Dec 14: SC says there is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Modi government and dismisses all the petitions seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the jet deal.
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(With inputs from agencies)
