oppn parties Rafale Deal: More Twists And Turns

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  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
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  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Rafale Deal: More Twists And Turns

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2018-12-15 21:34:07

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
The controversy over the Supreme Court order on the Rafale deal took a fresh turn today when the government applied to the court for correction of its order. The government claimed that the court had misinterpreted several statements provided to it in a sealed cover to give the impression that the CAG report on pricing had been examined by the PAC or that the redacted portion was placed before Parliament. The government says that it had only said that it “is” done as a matter of course which the court took to mean that it had been done in actuality.

The main thrust of the Congress criticism of the Supreme Court judgment is that the government has misled the Supreme Court about the CAG report which does not exist and which has not been shown either to the PAC or placed before Parliament. Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly asked the government to show the public the CAG report or provide information of when it was placed before Parliament. With the government application for correction of the order, both these charges become infructuous.

While delivering the judgment, the court had taken pains to clarify that any judicial review of defence contracts cannot be an in-depth examination of policy decisions, saying that “the parameter of scrutiny would give far more leeway to the Government, keeping in mind the nature of procurement itself.” It also said that it had limited its review within the jurisdiction granted to it by Article 32 of the Indian constitution as it was invoked by the petitioners.

One feels that the Opposition parties and the petitioners took a wrong decision in approaching the courts for a judicial review. Since a huge amount of public money was involved and the Opposition alleged corruption (which necessarily means payment of kickbacks) the better way would have been to press for a JPC probe, which they are now doing. But one feels that the government will not allow that now, especially since the general elections are due in a few months. The opposition had cornered the government on Rafale in the lead-up to the current elections to the five state assemblies. The government will now hit back with the clean chit given to it by the Supreme Court.