Cong misinterpreted SC's judgment on Rafale deal: PP Choudhary

After the central government filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking correction in its judgement on the Rafale fighter jet deal, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice PP Choudhary on Sunday claimed that the Congress misinterpreted and misunderstood the apex court's ruling.

Following the Supreme Court's order on Friday, the central government filed an application before the top court on Saturday seeking a correction in the order to make it clear that the pricing aspect, examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), has not been looked into by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as yet.

The Congress demanded that the top court must immediately recall its judgement on Rafale deal case, claiming that the BJP-led central government has 'misled' the apex court while alleging that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has brought an embarrassment to the apex court.

Choudhary told ANI: "See, the Congress has misinterpreted and misunderstood the Supreme Court's judgement. They misinterpreted that in the judgment the word 'has been' was mentioned. The central government has moved an application regarding this and we have appealed to the court that the correction should be made."

Furthermore, Choudhary downplayed accusations made by the Congress, saying that they made a "hue and cry" over nothing.

"There is nothing huge in this matter. The application is very clear. There can be a typographical mistake. There can be a miss while taking provision, or from an affidavit, or from an application, or from a note. This is a matter of misinterpretation," he said.

Choudhary reiterated that the apex court heard the matter on the pricing details, adding that all procedures were followed. He also noted that Anil Ambani-led Reliance Aerostructure as an offset partner was purely a commercial issue.

The Union Minister further said that the Congress' claim for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the issue is "politically motivated."

"We should wait for the decision when the application has been filed. It was a simple application. Instead of the word 'has been', 'have been' should be used. Both the pricing and the procedure has not been misrepresented by the central government. The (top court) decision is correct. The CAG will give a report after examining it, then it will be examined by the PAC and then it would be brought up in the Parliament," he elaborated.

In its application, accessed by ANI, the union government pointed out that an error in two sentences appears to have occurred, perhaps, on account of a misinterpretation of a couple of sentences in a note handed over to the apex court in a sealed cover.

The government clarified that it had only submitted a "description of procedure" by the CAG, in which the Supreme Court appears to have mistaken "is" for "has been".

The government's application refers to Para 25 of the judgement which reads: "The pricing details have, however, been shared with Comptroller and Auditor General, and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee. Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before the Parliament and is in the public domain."

Continuing his tirade against the Congress, Choudhary said the former has misled the people of the country and should apologise for the same. He further said that the central government is always ready to debate on the Rafale deal issue, as opposed to the Congress.

The apex court on December 14 dismissed all the petitions seeking probe into the Rafale deal stating that it was "satisfied" with the central government's decision-making process, thus delivering a favourable judgement for the Centre and a big blow to the Congress.