Rafale Deal: After Congress claims of 'lie', Centre asks top court to make 'corrections' in judgment

Hours after Congress allegations of misleading the Supreme Court about the CAG report on Rafale deal, the Narendra Modi government on Saturday filed a new affidavit in before the top court seeking “correction” in the judgment that led to a controversy in the public domain. The Modi government moved the application seeking a correction with regard to two sentences in paragraph 25 of the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on December 14.

The Centre wants the Supreme Court to substitute the words – “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” with “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.”

Early in the day, Congress leader and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Mallikarjun Kharge had accused the Narendra Modi government of the lying in the Supreme Court about the CAG report that the government had claimed was presented before the public accounts committee.

Also Read | Congress says government lied in Supreme Court about CAG report

“Government lied in Supreme Court that the CAG report was presented in the house and before the PAC. They told the top court that it is public domain. Where is it? Have you seen it?” the Congress leader had said.

Kharge, who is the chief of the PAC, said that he will ask other members of the committee to look into the matter and summon the Attorney General (AG) and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

“We will request the PAC members to summon the AG and CAG and ask them when the Auditor General was informed about the pricing of the Rafale aircraft and when it was given to the PAC and when the PAC probed it and presented the report before Parliament as claimed by the government in the apex court,” he said.

The Congress party also said that the “petrified” Modi government was rushing to correct the “patent fraud” played upon the Supreme Court by citing a “non-existent CAG report” on which the top court’s verdict in the Rafale deal was founded. 

Also Read | Rafale deal judgment | All figures by government are correct, all figures by Rahul Gandhi are false: Arun Jaitley

In a major relief to the BJP-led central government, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected all the petitions seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal. After the verdict, the BJP launched an all-out attack against Congress president Rahul Gandhi and demanded his apology for spreading lies about the Rafale deal.

The Congress president, however, remained firm about his claims and said that he will prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped Anil Ambani’s Reliance get the deal. The Congress party, on the other hand, accused the government of lying to the court.