Hailing the Supreme Court’s verdict dismissing the petitions seeking a probe into the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday called the allegations by the opposition “imaginary and fiction writing.”
Hailing the Supreme Court’s verdict dismissing the petitions seeking a probe into the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday called the allegations by the opposition “imaginary and fiction writing.”
Citing the verdict as a validation of the government’s procurement of 36 fighter jets from France, Jaitley ruled out a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal.
To a question about the Congress demand for JPC probe into the deal, he said only judicial body can carry out such an investigation as there has been experienced in the past of JPCs working on partisan lines. The SC verdict is conclusive and leaves no scope of any doubt on the deal, he said.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court said there was “no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France. It is not the job of the court to deal with the comparative details of the pricing, it stated.
Addressing the press with Jaitley, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said with the Supreme Court verdict “Rafale matter is put to rest.”
Alleging that the opposition “manufactured lies that hurt the national interest”, Jaitley said “Falsehood has a very short life. In this case, it was a few months. Falsehood lowers the credibility of its creators.. The disrupters have lost on all counts.”
Following the verdict, the Congress said the Supreme Court is not the forum to decide on a sensitive defence contract. Jaitley, while slamming the party, said, “a family is not above the Supreme Court.”
Referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said: “If a family is not willing to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict, does that mean the family is above the court of law?”
Dismissing claims by the opposition that the deal was struck to benefit Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, the Finance Minister said the deal protected both security and commercial interest of the country.
On Reliance Defence being the offset partner, the Supreme Court bench had noted that this issue had “triggered” the litigation as petitioners had alleged that government gave benefit to Reliance Aerostructure Ltd by compelling Dassault Aviation to enter into a contract with them at the cost of public enterprise, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
“It was alleged that the deal was struck to benefit a particular person. If Dassault decides whom should it buy offset from, how is the government responsible?” Jaitley asked.
“The Rafale deal protected both security and commercial interests. Security interest because it increases combat ability of India, commercial interest because the final price was significantly lower both for aircraft and weaponised aircraft than what was negotiated in 2007 and 2012,” he further said.
Former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with activist advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved the apex court with a plea for a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.
Citing the verdict as a validation of the government’s procurement of 36 fighter jets from France, Jaitley ruled out a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal.
To a question about the Congress demand for JPC probe into the deal, he said only judicial body can carry out such an investigation as there has been experienced in the past of JPCs working on partisan lines. The SC verdict is conclusive and leaves no scope of any doubt on the deal, he said.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court said there was “no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France. It is not the job of the court to deal with the comparative details of the pricing, it stated.
Addressing the press with Jaitley, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said with the Supreme Court verdict “Rafale matter is put to rest.”
Alleging that the opposition “manufactured lies that hurt the national interest”, Jaitley said “Falsehood has a very short life. In this case, it was a few months. Falsehood lowers the credibility of its creators.. The disrupters have lost on all counts.”
Following the verdict, the Congress said the Supreme Court is not the forum to decide on a sensitive defence contract. Jaitley, while slamming the party, said, “a family is not above the Supreme Court.”
Referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said: “If a family is not willing to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict, does that mean the family is above the court of law?”
Dismissing claims by the opposition that the deal was struck to benefit Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, the Finance Minister said the deal protected both security and commercial interest of the country.
On Reliance Defence being the offset partner, the Supreme Court bench had noted that this issue had “triggered” the litigation as petitioners had alleged that government gave benefit to Reliance Aerostructure Ltd by compelling Dassault Aviation to enter into a contract with them at the cost of public enterprise, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
“It was alleged that the deal was struck to benefit a particular person. If Dassault decides whom should it buy offset from, how is the government responsible?” Jaitley asked.
“The Rafale deal protected both security and commercial interests. Security interest because it increases combat ability of India, commercial interest because the final price was significantly lower both for aircraft and weaponised aircraft than what was negotiated in 2007 and 2012,” he further said.
Former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with activist advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved the apex court with a plea for a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.