Raman Singh government under Supreme Court lens over chopper deal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh to produce all the files relating to the purchase of Agusta helicopters.

The state sealed the deal without weighing the pros and cons of choices available in the market for extraneous considerations, a petition filed in the court had alleged. This was argued by activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

The AG, appearing for the central government, urged the court to dismiss the petition on the ground that a political outfit such as Swarajya Abhigyan cannot be allowed to file such a PIL.

The PIL was based on confidential documents which were secured illegally, he charged, but the bench shrugged off his arguments and demanded an explanation from the state government on the deal in which fingers have been pointed at the CM’s son.

The bench, comprising Justices AK Goel and Uday Lalit, directed the state to produce the records and posted the case for further hearing to November 23.

Bhushan claimed though states such as J&K, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjab had purchased VVIP choppers without tenders or through sham tenders, no probe was initiated against any of them. He demanded a CBI-style probe into the VVIP chopper deal of the central government.