How the central government did responds to Rafale deal?

  • Former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the prices could not be compared as the tender for 126 aircraft and the agreement for 36 aircraft had different requirements.
  • The Central government also claimed that it did not have any role in the selection of the Indian offset partner. (However, Francois Hollande, who was the President of France when the Rafale deal was signed, stated in an interview that it was the Indian government that suggested Reliance Defence Ltd. as the offset partner for the deal. And Dassault Aviation’s chief executive officer, Eric Trappier, in November 2018, said that it was his company that chose Reliance Defence).
  • Nirmala Sitharaman also said that approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security had been obtained before the signing of IGA.

Supreme Court order

In October 2018, the Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation, directed the Central government to provide the pricing details of the Rafale fighter jets in a sealed cover. In December 2018, the court dismissed all the petitions seeking a probe into the alleged irregularities in the deal, and gave a clean chit to the Union government on all three aspects – the decision making, pricing and selection of Indian offset partner. However, petitioners have sought a review of the December 2018 order following which the Union government wants all review petitions dismissed by the apex court.

 

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