Says it is satisfied with decision-making process by Modi Government

New Delhi: In a big relief to the Narendra Modi Government, the Supreme Court (SC) this morning said that detailed scrutiny is not required in the Rafale fighter jet deal which was used as a major poll plank by the Opposition parties in the recent Assembly elections.

The judgement comes as a major vindication for Prime Minister Modi who was personally accused of corruption by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

A Three-Judge Bench of the Apex Court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, also said that it did not find any substantial element to show that there is any “substantial favouritism” in the deal. “It is not the job of this Court to go into the differential pricing details, which must be kept confidential,” the Bench ruled.

The Government had questioned the Court’s expertise to review the Rs. 59,000-crore deal for 36 planes with French firm Dassault. There are numerous petitions filed before the Top Court seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged Rafale deal. The petitions were filed by several prominent people — Prashant Bhushan, Manohar Lal Sharma, Arun Shourie, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Vineet Dhanda and Yashwant Sinha.

Petitions demanding a Court-monitored investigation into the deal were filed after the Congress mounted a sharp attack on the Government alleging irregularities in the Rafale deal. The Congress has been accusing PM Modi and his Government of corruption and crony capitalism.

The Congress has alleged that the Centre scrapped a deal for 126 Rafale jets negotiated by the previous UPA government and entered an expensive new contract just to help Anil Ambani’s defence company bag an offset partnership with the jet manufacturer Dassault.

Congress should tender apology: BJP

With the Supreme Court finding no ‘irregularities’ in purchase of Rafale jets, a buoyant BJP demanded that Congress president Rahul Gandhi tender apologies to countrymen for defaming the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said in view of the verdict from the Apex Court, the Congress should tender an apology.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “The matter was crystal clear from the beginning and the allegations levelled by Congress are baseless and to gain political mileage.”

“No Favouritism. No reason for the Court to intervene. Satyameva Jayate!” A lie exposed. Eminences wanting to blindly join anti-Modi chorus too stand exposed,” BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav tweeted.

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