Supreme Court must recall Rafale judgment, says Indira Jaising

Describing the Supreme Court verdict on Rafale jet deal as a “void judgement”, senior lawyer Indira Jaising has asserted that the top court must recall its judgement.

The top court had rendered its verdict on Friday, dismissing a string of PILs for an independent inquiry into the propriety of the decision-making process, pricing and procedure of procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

However, the Opposition has accused Modi government of misleading the apex court by claiming that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Rafale deal had been examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The former additional solicitor general of India in a series of tweets, which she put out on Saturday evening, stated that “a judgement based on non-existent facts is no judgement in the eye of law”.

“The Judgment of the Supreme Court in Rafale deal is null and void. It must be recalled. It is based on the reasoning that CAG submitted the report which was examined by PAC. Since no such report exists, the reasoning goes, it is no judgment in the eyes of law,” she said and maintained that “This is not about grammar, it is about a void judgement regardless of who misled whom, it is based on non-existent facts. It has to be recalled.”

Notably, denying the allegations that it misled the Supreme Court on the CAG report, the government had claimed that there has been some misinterpretation on the issue of the documents placed in a sealed cover relating to the CAG and PAC and the government counsel flagged on Saturday with a plea for correction.

In the judgement dated December 14, authored by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, paragraph 25 reads, “The pricing details have, however, been shared with Comptroller and Auditor General, and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee. Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before the Parliament and is in public domain.”