SC asks Centre to give details of Rafale decision making process in sealed cover

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to provide in a sealed cover the details of decision making process, sans pricing and technical information, in the Rafale deal with France even as the government sought dismissal of the PILs on the issue, terming them "political petitions".

Terming the averments made in the pleas as "grossly inadequate", a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi made it clear that the court was not issuing notice on the two PILs, but wanted to satisfy itself about legitimacy of the decision making process.

The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, asked the government to provide the information by October 29 and fixed the PILs, filed by lawyers Vineet Dhanda and M L Sharma, for hearing two days after that.

"We are not on the issue of pricing and suitability of the Rafale jets but only on the decision making process," the bench said.

At the outset, the bench asked Attorney General K K Venugopal, "Suppose we ask you (the Centre) to give the details of the decision making process only to the judges, how will you react."
The bench then posed another query, "What if we ask you to give details without technical details of aircraft?"
Dhanda, who has filed the petition, said, "In a PIL, my role is to bring an issue to the notice of the Court. The Court has perhaps also taken note of my plea regarding submission of documents in a sealed cover envelope. After the Court goes through the documents, I am sure, the truth will come out."