Rafale deal: Centre wants SC to dismiss all review petitions

Agencies
May 25, 2019

New Delhi, May 24: The Centre has filed written submissions in the Supreme Court stating that all review petitions seeking investigation into the Rafale deal should be dismissed. The submissions were filed in the apex court on Friday.

Earlier, advocate Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners in the Rafale case, had argued that December 14 judgment did not take note of the plea seeking an investigation in the matter and registration of the first information report (FIR).

He claimed that there was no precedent of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) redacting pricing details from its report regarding the deal.

"Not even in one case in the past, pricing details have been redacted. It was unprecedented that pricing details were redacted," he contended before the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph.

Bhushan also questioned as to why the standard anti-corruption clauses relating to the deal were allegedly deleted by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

"Eight standard clauses including all standard anti-corruption clauses were dropped from the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) post-August 24, 2016 in Rafale deal and the same was not informed to the court," he said.

"A lot of crucial information was suppressed from this court and the impugned judgment was obtained on the basis of fraud played upon the court by the government," the lawyer said.

In his arguments, Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal, representing the government, said, "There is no question of any corruption. The court has already decided that in the Rafale case verdict (on December 14 last year)."

On the pricing of the fighter jets, he said: "The issue was covered under Article 10 of the Inter-Governmental Agreement and was not supposed to be discussed in public domain."

Venugopal contended that the court did not want the pricing to be disclosed but had only asked for the procedure adopted in the deal.

"We produced the procedure. And even if there are errors in it, that will not be a ground for review. The entire judgment cannot be set aside," he said.

"The lives of pilots were at risk. The 126 MMRCA process was not working. So a conscious decision was taken by the government to go ahead with the procurement of the 36 Rafale aircraft," the Attorney-General submitted.

The bench then questioned Venugopal on the initial dissent expressed by three experts. "These officers later agreed to all the clauses and the decision was taken unanimously. It was then placed before the CCS," he replied.

The review petitions were filed by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Prashant Bhushan, and others.

In the December 14 judgment, the Supreme Court had said that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the deal.

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News Network
June 29,2020

Kolkata, Jun 29: Sweet-loving Bengalis have something to cheer about in COVID-19 time as the West Bengal government decided to come out with a "sandesh" which will contain honey from Sundarbans and increase immunity, an official said on Sunday.

Cotton cheese made from cow milk will be mixed with pure honey from the Sunderbans to prepare the "Arogya Sandesh" which will also have extracts of tulsi leaves, an official of the Animal Resources Development Department said.

No artificial flavours would be added to the sweetmeat which will be available in the department's outlets in the city and neighbouring districts, he said.

The sandesh will boost the immune system as a whole but it is not a COVID-19 antidote, the official said.

Sunderbans Affairs Minister Manturam Pakhira said the honey for making Arogya Sandesh will be collected from beehives in places such as Pirkhali, Jharkhali and other parts of the Sunderbans and it will be stored in a scientific manner.

The sandesh is expected to hit the shelves in another two months and the pricing will be within the reach of the common man, the animal resources development department official said.

Earlier this month, a reputed sweetmeat chain of Kolkata came out with an "Immunity Sandesh" claiming that it contains various herbs and spices such as haldi (turmeric), tulsi, saffron, and cardamom and Himalayan honey, which will boost immunity to fight novel coronavirus.

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News Network
June 5,2020

New Delhi, Jun 5: Shares of Reliance Industries on Friday gained over 2 per cent to hit their one-year high level after the company announced sale of 1.85 per cent stake in its digital unit, Jio Platforms, to Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala.

On BSE, the heavyweight stock jumped 2.38 per cent to Rs 1,617.70 -- its 52-week high.

It surged 2.41 per cent to its one-year high of Rs 1,618 on NSE.

Earlier in the day, Reliance Industries announced the sale of 1.85 per cent stake in its digital unit to Mubadala for Rs 9,093.60 crore, the sixth deal in as many weeks that will inject a combined Rs 87,655.35 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.

"Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) will invest Rs 9,093.60 crore in Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore," the company said in a statement.

With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 87,655.35 crore from leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than six weeks.

Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, is a next-generation technology company.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mar 16: A fourth batch of 53 Indians returned to India from Iran on Monday, taking the total number of people evacuated from the coronavirus-hit country to 389.

This comes a day after over 230 Indians were brought back from Iran to New Delhi and quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer, the third batch to be evacuated from that country.

"Fourth batch of 53 Indians - 52 students and a teacher - has arrived from Tehran and Shiraz, Iran. With this, a total of 389 Indians have returned to India from Iran. Thank the efforts of the team @India_in_Iran and Iranian authorities," Jaishankar tweeted.

The Indians came in a Mahan Air flight that landed at the Delhi airport at around 3 am, officials said, adding that they were later taken to Jaisalmer in an Air India flight for being quarantined.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran last Tuesday and the second group of 44 Indian pilgrim arrived from there on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working to bring back Indians stranded there. Over 700 people have died from the disease in Iran and nearly 14,000 cases have been detected.

Jaishankar had told Rajya Sabha last week that the government was focusing on evacuating Indians stranded in Iran and Italy as these countries are facing an "extreme situation".

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