Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to apprise it of the details of steps in the decision-making process in the Rafale deal.
The apex court clarified that there was no need to give information on pricing and technical details.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, refrained from issuing a formal notice after Attorney General KK Venugopal said it’s not public interest litigation.
“If a notice is issued, it will go to the PM, etc. This is political petition and not public interest litigation and is part of a bitter fight going on between the ruling and opposition parties. Please don’t entertain such petitions,” Venugopal said.
The SC heard two PILs, one each by advocates ML Sharma and Vineet Dandha. The third petition by Tehseen Poonawala was withdrawn.
The Supreme Court had on Monday had agreed to hear a fresh PIL against the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France on October 10.
In his PIL, Sharma has alleged discrepancies in the deal and requested the top court to stay it.
The PIL filed by Dhanda has sought a direction to the Centre to disclose details of the deal and comparative prices during the UPA and NDA governments in a sealed cover to the top court. It also sought information on the contract given to Reliance by French company Dassault.
Sharma claimed in his plea 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 Parliament under Article 253.
