Charges and counter charges flew thick and fast during the high-voltage hearing in the Supreme Court Wednesday on the pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal.
The proceedings saw trading of charges between the Centre and the petitioners, who questioned the authority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in inking the pact with France to import Rafale fighter jets.
The arguments before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi were made two days after the government had told the apex court that it had "completely followed" Defence Procurement Procedure laid out in 2013 and approval of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was secured before the deal was inked with France.
Activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who along with former BJP veterans Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie has filed a plea in the matter, alleged that there was a "gross violation" of procedure in the deal which warranted a CBI investigation.
Questioning the inking of Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between India and France for purchase of 36 Rafale jets, Bhushan claimed it was done only to circumvent the mandatory requirement of issuing tenders for defence procurement under the Request for Proposal (RFP).
Attorney General K K Venugopal vehemently opposed the submissions and denied any violation in the deal. He said IGA was necessary to meet the urgent requirement of the IAF to get 36 advanced fighter aircrafts for two squadrons of the force.
Venugopal also raised serious objection to Bhushan's arguments on secrecy pact between India and France saying, "Secrecy agreement has to be secret and how is he producing it in court?".
To this, the CJI told Bhushan, "We are giving you full hearing. Use this opportunity carefully and cite only those things which are necessary."
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