JPC probe will clear Rafale air: Bhupinder Singh Hooda
The former Haryana CM said the Supreme Court has its jurisdiction and cannot take a decision related to the price and specification of the aircraft as well as its technology use.
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Friday that the truth behind the alleged scam in the Rafale aircraft deal can only come out through a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
“JPC can only ask for people and documents related to the scam,” Hooda told newspersons here.
A week back, the Supreme Court declined to order a CBI probe into the purchase of 36 French-made Rafale jets, holding that it was satisfied that there is no reason to doubt the purchase process or the need for the fighter jets. The verdict came as a shot in the arm for the NDA government, as the opposition has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pushing through the deal to buy overpriced jets without following procedures.
The former Haryana CM said the Supreme Court has its jurisdiction and cannot take a decision related to the price and specification of the aircraft as well as its technology use.
He said the Congress has raised the issue of price of Rafale aircraft, corruption in the deal and how “capitalist friends” were benefitted. “The Supreme Court cannot probe all file noting, ask the Prime Minister, defence ministry officials and other witnesses for affidavit. This can only be done by JPC. Hence the Congress is demanding a JPC probe.”
Hooda said the BJP is spreading lies that the Supreme Court has given it a clean chit. In its decision on December 14, he said, the court in para 12 stated, “It was also made clear that the issue of pricing or matter relating to technical suitability of equipment would not be gone into by the court.”
In para 33, the court said, “Once again it is neither appropriate nor within the experience of this court to step into this arena of what is technically feasible or not.” Para 34 said, “We however make it clear that our views as above are primarily from the standpoint of the exercise of the jurisdiction under article 29 and 32…”
Para-30-32 states, “The court records that there was an agreement between Reliance and Dassault Aviation for offset contract in the year 2012.” Hooda said the fact is that Reliance Defence Limited was incorporated on March 28, 2015 and its subsidiary company, Reliance Aero Structure Limited, on April 24, 2015. Both the companies, he said, had no experience of manufacturing defence equipment.
How this factually incorrect information reached the Supreme Court can only be probed by JPC, Hooda said. “If the government was not guilty of any irregularity, then why is it running away from a JPC probe?”
Hooda alleged that the government misguided the court on CAG report. The government claim that the CAG report was presented before the public accounts committee is false. The government then submitted an application for correction, he said.
BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said, “If a constitutional institution gives a decision in favour of the Congress they accept, or else they raise questions.” Pareek said the Congress filed three petitions in the court and all were disposed of giving a clean chit to the BJP. “The deal was between two governments, and raising questions on it is an insult to the army and the government. The deal had no middlemen.”