Rafale controversy reaches SC, top court to hear plea seeking stay on deal next week

The ongoing politically charged Rafale controversy on Wednesday reached the Supreme Court with a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra agreeing to hear next week a plea seeking a stay on the purchase of fighter jets from France.

The Supreme Court of India. (File/PTI)

NEW DELHI: The ongoing politically charged Rafale controversy on Wednesday made its way to the Supreme Court with a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra agreeing to hear next week a plea seeking a stay on the purchase of fighter jets from France. A bench of CJI Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the plea would be heard next week, after considering advocate M.L. Sharma's mention for his plea for urgent hearing. Sharma, in his plea, sought an FIR and prosecution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Defence Minister and current Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, businessman Anil Ambani and French armament firm Dassault with recovery of the amount. The lawyer sought a stay on the fighter jet deal between India and France while alleging discrepancies. The plea seeks that the inter-government agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets must be quashed as it was an "outcome of corruption" and not ratified by the Parliament under Article 253 of the Constitution. In March, a similar plea was filed in the top court by Congress leader Tehseen S. Poonawalla, seeking direction against the Centre as to why the Union Cabinet's approval was not sought as part of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) before signing the deal with France on September 23, 2016. India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019. The Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal, claiming that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,600 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government. The government has rejected the charges. The party has also demanded answers from the government on why state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal. (With inputs from agencies)