NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to furnish details of its decision-making process, in a sealed cover by October 29, but clarified that it does not want to get into “pricing or suitability” of the jets.
The order came from a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on a batch of PILs, against the Rafale jet deal. Apart from petitioned by two lawyers Vineet Dhanda and ML Sharma, Aam Admi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had also moved the top court. The government’s lawyer called the petition politically motivated. Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that if a notice was issued, it would go to authorities such as the prime minister.
Appearing for Centre, Attorney General K K Venugopal sought dismissal of the petitions saying they were “intended to achieve political gains in the bitter fight between Opposition and ruling party. India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore.
