“The issues arising relate to procurement of 36 Rafale Fighter Jets for Indian Airforce. It is our considered opinion/view, extent of permissible judicial review in matters of contracts, procurement, etc. would vary with subject matter of contract and there cannot be any uniform standard or depth of judicial review which could be understood as an across the board principle to apply to all cases of award of work or procurement of goods/material. The scrutiny of challenges before us, therefore, must be made keeping in mind confines of national security, subject of procurement being crucial to nation’s sovereignty. We do not consider it necessary to dwell further and seek clause-by-clause compliances. It is certainly not the job of this Court to carry out a comparison of pricing details in matters like present. We say no more as material must be kept in a confidential domain. We find no reason for any intervention by this Court on the sensitive issue of purchase of 36 Defence Aircrafts by Indian Government. Perception of individuals cannot be basis of a ‘fishing and roving enquiry’ by this Court, especially in such matters. We, thus, dismiss all Writ Petitions.”

–  Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Manohar Lal Sharma v. Narendra Damodardas Modi, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 225 of 2018].

However, further investigation cannot be permitted to do a ‘fishing and roving enquiry’. There must be some reasonable basis which should trigger further investigation. Devendra Nath Singh v. State of Bihar, (2023) 1 SCC 48 emphasized, power to order further investigation is a significant power and it has to be exercised sparingly and in exceptional cases to achieve ends of justice.

– Hon’ble Justice K.V. Viswanathan, K. Vadivel v. K. Shanthi, [Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 4360 of 2022] decided on 30.09.2024.