SC dismisses plea seeking probe into Chhattisgarh Govt's Agusta chopper deal
New Delhi, Feb 13 (IBNS) : The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking probe into the alleged irregularities in purchase of AgustaWestland chopper and cleared the Raman Singh-led Chhattisgarh Government of accusations of playing fraud on the public exchequer, reports said.
The petition was filed by of Yogendra Yadav-owned Swaraj Abhiyan which alleged that 324 million Dollars were paid in excess for the helicopter.
The NGO alleged that the Government made the purchase in a dubious manner by floating a sham tender and with one individual representing all the three competitive bidders.
“It cannot be disputed that the State Government was entitled to make a choice to purchase the Helicopter in question. There is nothing on record to show that the Helicopter could have been procured for lesser price," the Bench comprising Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit observed.
"No person claiming to give a better deal has come forward. Thus, in absence of clear evidence that loss was caused to public exchequer by way of commission payment to Sharp Ocean Investments Limited which was only a route to send the payment to the Sharp Ocean Investments Limited which was only a route to send the payment to the son of the Chief Minister, interference by this Court is not called for," it said.
The apex court’s decision comes weeks after it posed searching questions to the Chhattisgarh Government on the purchase of an AgustaWestland helicopter for VIP use in 2006-07 and asked what was the “interest” of Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son in this.
The court had said it was not going into the government's choice of choppers but was only concerned with whether there was fraud played with public money.
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