Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday reserved its order on an NGO’s plea seeking direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe a Rs.67,000 crore purchase order by Air India for 111 aircraft.

After hearing arguments from both the petitioner and the central government and the national carrier, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said: “The judgment is reserved.”

“Our specific query is whether the PAC (public accounts committee) can recommend the investigation or not,” Acting Chief Justice Sikri asked earlier, seeking to know if the PAC had the right to set up a CBI inquiry or look into the criminality of the issue.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2010 by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) through counsel Prashant Bhushan.

“The petitioner requests this court to direct the CVC to conduct a thorough inquiry into aircraft acquisition deals of Air India and its loss of market-share by giving up profitable routes and timings, and the role played by the civil aviation ministry,” the CPIL said.

“If the CVC finds a prima facie case, it can then get the matter investigated through the CBI as per law,” the petition said.

Opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General A.S. Chandhiok said: “The CAG report is under consideration before the PAC which would submit its report to parliament, which is supreme.”

Bhushan told the bench that material was available for ordering criminal investigation into the deal which caused a huge loss to the exchequer.

The court earlier issued notices to the central government, Air India, the CVC, the CBI and the government auditor on the CPIL’s petition.

It also asked the CVC and the auditor about action taken by them on the issues raised in the petition.

The NGO cited a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to support its plea that the civil aviation ministry acted in “haste and in mala fide” manner.

Referring to the report, Bhushan informed the bench that the deal was a “recipe for disaster” as, on the one hand, the aircraft were sought to be purchased and, simultaneously, the national carrier proposed to get aircraft on lease.

This became “more glaring” in the backdrop that the most of the profit-making routes were given to private companies without getting anything in return, he said.

Bhushan also referred to a report of a parliamentary committee saying that it had raised concerns on the issue.

The PIL alleged that the ministry through its decisions and actions, drove the Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines into heavy losses.

“The government went in for a huge fleet expansion programme in which purchase orders for 111 aircraft were given. This unnecessary expansion was without any proper study and without any transparency. The purchase orders of the aircraft were given costing a whopping Rs.67,000 crore,” it said.

The NGO said even parliamentary committees, in their reports, recommended a probe into the fleet expansion way back in 2010 but no action was taken.

“Foreign airlines were given unrestricted entry into India and major routes were given to them without taking any reciprocal benefits for Air India. Despite warning that these actions would result in heavy loss of market share to our national carrier, the civil aviation ministry continued with its unprecedented reckless actions. This was done when the ministry had forced Air India to purchase a large number of planes,” said the petition.