Nilotpal Basu, chairman of the standing committee on civil aviations, has ruled out the possibility of any kind of probe into the deal between Air-India and the Boeing company on the purchase of 50 aircraft by the official airlines.
Speaking to rediff.com on Thursday, Basu said that the talk of a probe by CVC into the deal is absurd. "I think the issue raised by the Airbus is totally unwarranted. If at all there has to be a probe on whether there is any issue of irregularities or Air-India not getting the best price, then it would be done by the government. But this will not be done at the instance of a private company bidding for sale of its own product," Basu said.
Asked if he had got representations from various Members of Parliament on the issue, Basu said that so far he has not got any.
Boeing defends A-I deal, blasts Airbus
"As chairman of the standing committee, I have not received any letter from any Member of Parliament so far. If the letters have been sent to the office of the prime minister then I hope they would be addressed to in a proper manner," he said.
Do you feel that there has been undue haste in clearing the deal with Boeing?
"Air-India needs aircraft and while negotiating a deal one of the major factors that is kept in mind that how soon you would be able to get the aircraft and the other, of course, is the pricing. I do not think there has been any undue haste shown.," he said.
"In fact, the process has just begun and it would have to be cleared at several levels before it is endorsed by the Union Cabinet. The main thing, I am saying again, is the acquisition of the aircraft. When bids are invited it is the right of the purchaser to select the company and the product from whom to buy what it wants," he asserted.
According to him the parameters set for the purchase of the new fleet for Air-India have been strictly adhered to so far. "If we notice anything in future then we would see what to do about it. But so far Air-India has kept within the defined parameters," he added.
