Delhi High Court reserves order on PIL seeking probe into Air India aircraft deal

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today reserved its judgement on a PIL seeking a direction to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to inquire into alleged purchase order of 111 aircraft costing a whopping Rs 67,000 crore to national carrier Air India.
"Judgement is reserved," a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said after hearing arguments on the PIL filed in 2010 seeking investigation into the aircraft purchase deal.
"More than prima facie materials are available for ordering criminal investigation into the deal which caused a huge loss to the exchequer," Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), said.
Referring to the report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the issue, he said the deal was a "recipe for disaster" as on one hand the aircraft were sought to be purchased and simultaneously, the national carrier proposed to get aircraft on lease basis.
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.
30/11/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Categories: Air India Dec 2011