The Prime Minister's Office(PMO) was ''monitoring'' the progress of the deal to buy 36 Rafale jets but this could not be taken as ''parallel negotiation'' with the French side, the government told the supreme court on Saturday.The submission follows the directive on Tuesday last that the government respond to the Rafale deal case review petitions by Saturday.The Centre had sought a whole month to respond. ''The monitoring of the progress by the PMO of this government-to-government process can not be construed as interference or parallel negotiation,'' it said.
A series of reporters published by The Hindu had revealed that the PMO was conducting ''parallel negotiations''. A Defence Ministry note that was published said the ''parallel parleys'' had ''weakend the negotiating position of MoD [the ministry of defence] and the Indian Negotiating Team''.But the government denied any reason for objection from the Ministry. It referred to how the t hen Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, himself had noted that ''it appears that PMO and French President's office are monitoring the progress of the issues, which was an outcome of the summit meeting''.
The government said that these ''selective'' reports, based on ''some incomplete internal file notings, procured unauthorisedly and illegally'', did not reflect the final decision of the competent authority. They could not form the basis for a review petition. The two affidavits filed by the MoD said the action of review petitioners, who former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, was ''tantamount to questioning the sovereign decision concerning national security and defence''. The government attached the court's April 10 judgement agreeing to hear the review petitions on the basis of the Rafale purchase documents published in the media.
The government said that judgement would now be taken to imply that any secret document can be obtained through any means and put in the public domain without attracting penal action.
''This could lead to revelation of all closely guarded State Secrets relating to space,nuclear installation, strategic defence capabilities, operational deployment of forces,intelligence resources in the country and outside, counter-terrorism and counter insurgency measures etc. This could have implications in the financial sector also if say budget proposal are published before they are presented in Parliament. Such disclosures of secret government information will have grave repercussions on the very existence of the Indian State,'' it cautioned.
The government countered the petitioners' argument that the Defence Procurement Procedure(DPP) was turned on its head when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the French President announced the purchase in a statement on April 10, 2015 -i.e well over a year before the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) approved the purchase on August 24,2016.
The DPP mandates that any defence deal worth over ₹1000 crore first requires CCS approval. The government claimed ''DPP does not mandates approval prior to conveying an intent or making an announcement.'' It said a waiver of sovereign guarantee in Inter Government Agreements(IGA) was ''not unusual''.
In contracts signed with Rosoboron export, the requirement of bank gurantees was waived off in view of assurance provided through a ''Letter of Comfort'' from the government of the Russian Federation, the government, said, adding, ''Similarly, in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) with the U.S government, no sovereign/bank guarantee is signed.''
Offset Partner
It reiterated that it had no role in selection of the Indian Offset Partner, which is a commercial decision of Dassault Aviation. The government dismissed allegation such as the ''Reliance Group paid €1.48 million to former French President Francois Hollande's partner's venture.'' It said these charges were ''matters of individual perceptions'' of the petitioners. It said DPP-2013 was followed and approval of the Defence Aquisition Council was taken for procurement of the Rafale aircraft.
The Indian Negotiating Team conducted comprehensive negotiations with the French side for about a year, holding 48 internal and 26 external meetings with the French side. The approval of the CCS was taken before signing the IGA.The Rafale procurement was on schedule with the deliveries of the Aircraft commencing September, 2019 and training for the Air Force team had begun in France, the government said.
The Indian Negotiating Team conducted comprehensive negotiations with the French side for about a year, holding 48 internal and 26 external meetings with the French side. The approval of the CCS was taken before signing the IGA.The Rafale procurement was on schedule with the deliveries of the Aircraft commencing September, 2019 and training for the Air Force team had begun in France, the government said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment