HC unhappy with Govt reply in Airbus case

HC unhappy with Govt reply in Airbus case
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 20: The Delhi High Court today expressed dissatisfaction over the Civil Aviation Ministry's affidavit in the Rs 4,200 crore Airbus deal case saying it was filing the responses in "bits and pieces for obvious reasons to delay the proceedings".

Not satisfied with the averments in the ministry's affidavit, a Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D K Jain while directing it to file a detailed affidavit also told CBI to press Airbus Industrie's local office here to part with the details about the deal, signed by the Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1985 for purchase of 31 A-320 Airbuses.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had sought expeditious probe into the case in which CBI had registered an FIR in March 1990 for alleged kickbacks to middlemen.

The court told the investigating agency that if it was finding difficulty in getting information about the alleged involvement of middlemen from the Airbus Industrie "take on them here in our own land".