Rafale deal row: 'Not our job to compare pricing details' - SC dismisses plea seeking court-monitored probe

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed pleas seeking court-monitored probe into India's multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal with France.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi gave the verdict on a batch of pleas.

"We are satisfied that there is no occasion to doubt the process. A country can’t afford to be underprepared. Not correct for the Court to sit as an appellant authority and scrutinize all aspects," said the apex court.

The Chief Justice also said that there was no reason for interference in the choice of offset partner and perception of individuals can't be the basis for roving inquiry in sensitive issue of defence procurement'.

"We can't compel government to purchase 126 aircrafts and its not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It isn't a job of the court to compare pricing details,"

Advocate M L Sharma was the first petitioner in the case. Later, another lawyer Vineet Dhanda had moved the apex court with the plea for court-monitored probe into the deal. AAP leader Sanjay Singh had also filed a petition against the fighter jet deal.

After the three petitions were filed, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie alongwith activist advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved the apex court with a plea for a direction to the CBI to register FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.

The Centre has defended the multi-billion deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and opposed public disclosure of the pricing details. 

India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. 

(With agency inputs)