CHRISTIAN MICHEL JAMES Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition has been filed by the petitioner praying for the following reliefs:

(2.) A brief background of facts giving rise to the present petition is that the Central Bureau of Investigation ("CBI"), (respondent no.4 herein) registered RC No. 217-2013-A-0003 dtd. 12/3/2013 under Sec. 120B read with Sec. 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to "IPC") and Ss. 7, 8, 9, 12, 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 alleging therein that Air Headquarters of the Indian Air Force, after obtaining approval from Raksha Mantri, issued Request for Proposal (hereinafter referred as "RFP") in March, 2002 to 11 vendors for procurement of eight helicopters for VVIPs thereby replacing the then existing MI-8 helicopters. Amongst others, Air HQ prescribed a mandatory altitude requirement of 6000 meters for such helicopters. Only four firms responded to the RFP, and three helicopters, namely MI-172, EC-225 and EH-101 (subsequently known as AW-101) were selected by the Technical Evaluation Committee for a flight evaluation. Out of the three, only MI-172 and EC-225 were flight evaluated as EH-101 (AW-101) could not be evaluated in view of the vendor stating that the helicopter was certified to fly upto an altitude of 4572 meters (15000 feet) only, as against the mandatory requirement of 6000 meters. Though makers of EH-101(AW-101) promised to produce certification to the effect that helicopter is capable of flying upto 6000 meters, they could not submit the same. As a consequence, two helicopters, namely MI-172 and EC-225, underwent flight trial. Out of these two, MI-172 did not conform to several mandatory parameters, however, EC-225 helicopters qualified under all the parameters during Field Evaluation Trial (hereinafter referred as "FET"). The FET report was then sent to Ministry of Defence (hereinafter referred to as "MoD") in May, 2003 for approval.

(3.) It was further alleged that in June 2003, the Technical Manager (Air) in MoD asked Air HQ to reassess the EC-225 and also obtain the opinion of the Prime Minister's Office (hereinafter referred to as "PMO") with regard to the suitability of cabin height. In a meeting convened by the PMO on 19/11/2003 with representatives of MoD, Air HQ and Special Protection Group (SPG), the PMO observed that framing of mandatory requirements had effectively led to a single vendor situation and this problem would not have arisen if the option of the mandatory requirement for operational altitude at 4500 meter and the higher flying ceiling limit of 6000 meters with a cabin height of 1.8 meter had been made as desirable instead of being mandatory. Thereafter, the said matter was deliberated at several levels in 2004 amongst different departments. However, the Indian Air Force had held its consistent and persistent stand for not reducing the flying altitude limit of 6000 meters due to security constraints and other related issues.