To know where the buck stops on tragedies caused by obsolete and malfunctioning defence weapon systems including warships, submarines, fighter planes and artillery, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre and the three Services Chiefs to respond to a PIl that sought transparent guidelines on Defence purchases.
This is perhaps the first time ever that Defence procurements have been brought under judicial scanner in a public interest proceeding. The Bench, headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, issued notice on a petition filed by six lawyers practicing in SC where it recalled the recent tragedy aboard INS Sindhuratna where a minor technical fault led to a major tragedy causing death of two decorated Naval officers. Following the tragedy the Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi had stepped down.
Going to the root of the problem, the petition stated, “Five of India’s 13 conventionally powered submarines have exceeded their design life…In an ideal world, one would not want to keep submarines in active service for no more than two decades or so. The Navy has refitted its submarines to keep them running, but age obviously increases the risks of material failures significantly.”
One of the prayers in the petition demanded Centre to phase out all such obsolete artillery, warships and submarines in order to protect lives of Indian soldiers.It was of the view, “On account of corruption and frauds, which have surfaced and disclosed repeatedly in various arms deals from other countries, the Indian forces have been made to compromise with obsolete techniques and outdated weaponries, refurbished submarines, warships and 19th century fighter jets.”
While the situation in Navy may appear to be bad, it is not any good either in the Army or Air Force. The petition set the alarm ringing by disclosing a recent communication of an outgoing Army Chief who reportedly told Defence Minister that with the existing artillery it would be difficult for India to fight future wars. It annexed reports that indicated Air Force fleet will start “shrinking” from 2017.
While suggesting the alternative to improve indigenous research and development to produce arms and artillery, till such time the petition asked the Court to order Centre to prepare a “clear, transparent and hassle-free Scheme/Guidelines for procuring arms, ammunitions, artillery, front line warships, submarines, and allied defence equipment”.