SC refuses to entertain PIL seeking fresh probe into Rafale deal between India, France

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh probe into the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets.

A bench comprising judge Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat considered lawyer M L Sharma's submission that a direction for issuing a letters rogatory to gather fresh evidence referring to the deal be issued. He also cited some media reports alleging that one billion Euros was paid by Dassault Aviation to a middleman to urge the deal in its favour.

The bench refused to contemplate the fresh PIL. Sharma then decided to withdraw the PIL.

On December 14, 2018, the apex court had dismissed a batch of PILs challenging the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets, saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the choice making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.

India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 to acquire 36 Rafale jets at a price of Rs 59,000 crore, and therefore the offset obligations were a part of the contract.

As a component of the deal, 50 per cent of the entire contract value should be reinvested in India as offsets in annually between September 2019 and September 2022.