LEGAL ASPECT OF DEFENCE PROCUREMENT IN INDIA: THE GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL DEFICIT IN THE DRAFT DEFENCE ACQUISITION PROCEDURE 2026

India's defence procurement framework has undergone a series of transformative revisions over the past two decades, most recently culminating in the Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 (DAP 2026). While DAP 2026 marks a doctrinal shift from 'Made in India' to 'Owned by India', it preserves and even deepens a structural legal deficiency that has plagued every iteration of the procurement policy since the Defence Procurement Procedure 2002. The absence of a legally enforceable, independent grievance redressal mechanism for aggrieved vendors. The Independent External Monitors (IEMs) constituted under the DAP remain advisory, non-binding institutions whose recommendations carry no legal force. This paper analyses the legal framework governing Indian defence procurement, identifies the grievance redressal deficit as the core issue in DAP 2026 and proposes a set of legislative and procedural reforms, including the enactment of a dedicated Public Procurement Act, the creation of a statutory Defence Procurement Review Authority and the mandatory integration of pre-award judicial review mechanisms, in order to bring India's defence procurement law into alignment with constitutional guarantees of equality and the demands of a maturing strategic industrial base.