Indian Express: New Delhi: Friday,
August 26, 2016.
It may appear
strange but Indian Air Force has claimed it does not have records related to
controversial VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland which was later scrapped
following allegations of bribery.
The IAF and
Defence Ministry are primary holders of the information sought through an RTI
query. The Ministry had referred the matter to CBI for a probe after alleged
corruption surfaced in the Rs 3,600 crore deal.
Under the
Right to Information Act, an application was filed with the Defence Ministry
seeking complete records related to the deal, including price negotiations and
file notings.
In addition,
the applicant had also sought information related to meetings of the Price
Negotiation Committee on the deal, cancellation of the deal, first estimate of
the helicopters provided by AgustaWestland, specific additions sought in the
helicopters which increased the cost and deliberations which allowed lowering
of flight ceiling and cabin height.
The
application was transferred by the Defence Ministry on June 16 to Indian Air
Force to furnish the information in accordance with the transparency law.
An
application is transferred under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act when the public
authority does not have any or a part of information sought by the RTI
applicant.
The Indian
Air Force headquarters in a reply said, "The information sought vide your
RTI application is not available at this HQ."
Surprisingly,
several details of the deal were referred to by Defence Minster Manohar
Parrikar during a debate on the issue in the Lok Sabha on May 6.
CBI, which is
probing the case, had collected many records during investigation, but as per
norms, copies of necessary documents were left with the concerned ministry or
the department from where they had been collected.
According to
Right to Information Act, the "information" is defined as "any
material in any form..." which is held by or is under the control of a
public authority.
CBI had
registered a case against former IAF Chief S P Tyagi along with 13 others,
including his cousins and European middlemen, in connection with alleged
bribery in the 2010 deal for 12 AgustaWestland helicopters for VVIPs.
The former
Air Chief is accused of reducing the flying ceiling of helicopters from 6,000 m
to 4,500 m (15,000 ft), which facilitated AgustaWestland to be in contention
for the deal. Otherwise the company did not qualify for submission of bids.
Tyagi has denied
the allegations and claimed that the change of specifications, which allowed
AgustaWestland to be in contention, was a collective decision in which senior
officers of Indian Air Force, SPG, NSA and other departments were involved.