Centre defends secrecy clause relating to pricing of Rafale jets in SC

The Centre defended the secrecy clause related to the pricing of the 36 Rafale fighter jets in the Supreme Court on Wednesday and said it cannot divulge details of the deal.

These matters are for the experts to deal with and "we have been saying that even Parliament has not been told about the complete cost of jets", Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

The top law officer said the Centre has given in a sealed cover the complete details of the Rafale jets, the weapons to be fitted on the aircraft and other requirements.

The Centre on Monday had submitted to the apex court in a sealed cover, the pricing details of the Rafale jets.

Venugopal also told the apex court that the court is judicially not competent to decide what aircraft and weapons are to be bought as it is a matter for experts.

Defending the secrecy clause related to the pricing of the Rafale jets, he said,"Our adversaries may get advantages if the entire details on the pricing is disclosed."
To this the bench said,"Mr. Attorney, Kargil was in 1999-2000? Rafale came in 2014."