Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi Saturday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of "grossly misleading" the Supreme Court in the Rafale deal and said only a JPC probe could unravel the truth.
From the apex court's order, it is evident that the Centre had given misleading information to the Supreme Court regarding CAG and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), he claimed.
The 29-page ruling by the bench of Chief Justice of India on December 14 gave a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government and had mentioned pricing details of Rafale jets being shared with the CAG which, in turn, shared its report with the PAC. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who chairs the PAC, had said no such report had come to him.
The Centre had filed an application in the apex court on December 15 for carrying out a correction in a paragraph in its judgment on the Rafale deal.
The Centre clarifying its position had said it did not say the CAG report was examined by PAC or a redacted portion was placed before Parliament and had pointed out that misinterpretation of its note had resulted in a controversy in the public domain.
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Continuing his attack, Singhvi said the Centre had also suppressed facts relating to pricing and a workshare agreement between French aerospace major Dassault Aviation and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
"The Centre has grossly misled the Supreme Court on Rafale fighter jet deal. It is guilty of perjury, contempt of court and breach of privilege of Parliament," Singhvi told reporters here.
The NDA government is filing a correction application because it had misled the apex court by furnishing wrong information, Singhvi said and asked "Is it possible to correct a contempt and perjury already done?"
As the Supreme Court has declined to go into the pricing of Rafale jets and issues relating to technology, holding that pricing is not susceptible to judicial review, the only solution is to get the matter probed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee, he said.
The apex court verdict had said that it found no reason to intervene on what it called the "sensitive issue" of purchase of 36 jets from France, which had come as a political victory for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi just days after the defeat of the party in the three Hindi-heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh at the hands of the Congress.
Slamming the Centre for rejecting the demand for a JPC probe into the deal, Singhvi said "I am unable to understand why BJP is afraid of a JPC inquiry into the issue if they are clean."
He said, "If BJP thinks that Congress and other political parties are wrong about the Rafale fighter jet deal, it can prove us wrong by forming a JPC".
To a query, the Congress leader said though a JPC has no power to convict a guilty, its findings can always form the basis of initiating a case.
Singhvi said Congress has been alleging corruption in the deal for the 36 Rafale jets. It alleged that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.
In a major relief to the Modi government, the Supreme Court order said it was "satisfied" with the decision making process in concluding the Rafale fighter jet deal and rejected demands for a probe.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had said that it did not find any substantial material on record to show there was "commercial favouritism" to any party by the Indian Government in choosing an offset partner.
Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a "fishing and roving enquiry" by the court and it cannot "sit in judgement" over the wisdom of the decision to go in for purchase of 36 aircraft in place of 126, it said.
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