A day after Rafale verdict, Centre moves SC seeking correction over CAG, PAC reference. The Centre has filed an application in the Supreme Court for carrying out a correction in a paragraph in its judgment on Rafale fighter aircraft deal.
The 29-page ruling by the bench of the Chief Justice of India mentions pricing details of the Rafale being shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India which, in turn, shared its report with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). But Mallikarjun Kharge, who chairs the PAC, says no such report has come to him yet and “neither does the CAG know about it”.
The centre submitted to Hon’ble Supreme Court that observations in the judgment have also resulted in a controversy in the public domain, and would warrant correction by the Hon’ble Court in the interest of justice.
The following statements have been made in paragraph 25 of the judgment:
“The pricing details have, however, been shared with Comptroller and Auditor General [hereinafter referred to as “CAG”], and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee [hereinafter referred to as “PAC”]. Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before the Parliament and is in public domain.”
Centre in application submits that these statements appear to have been based on the note submitted by the Union of India, alongwith the pricing details, in two sealed covers. These sealed covers were submitted to this Hon’ble Court in compliance with the order dated 31.10.2018, which had directed, inter alia, that the “Court would also like to be apprised of the details with regard to the pricing/cost, particularly the advantage thereof, if any, which again will be submitted to the Court in a sealed cover”.
The Center submits that it would be noted that what has already been done is described by words in the past tense, i.e. the Government “has already shared” the price details with the CAG. This is in the past tense and is factually correct. The second part of the sentence, in regard to the PAC, is to the effect that “the report of the CAG is examined by the PAC”. However, in the judgment, the reference to the word “is” has been replaced with the words “has been”, and the sentence in the judgment (with regard to the PAC) reads “the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee”.
The centre has prayed in application before the Hon’ble Supreme to direct the following corrections in paragraph 25 of the judgement:
The words “The report of the CAG is examined by the PAC. Only a redacted version of the report is placed
before the Parliament and in public domain” be substituted in place of “and the report of the CAG has
been examined by the Public Accounts Committee [hereinafter referred to as “PAC”]. Only a redacted
portion of the report was placed before the Parliament and is in public domain.”
Read the full application here:
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