Plane sailing for off-duty PMs, if govt has its way

In a move aimed at cutting losses and making friends, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government is planning an out-of-court settlement to recover ...

In a move aimed at cutting losses and making friends, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government is planning an out-of-court settlement to recover pending dues totalling Rs 24 crore from former prime ministers Chandrasekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao and H.D. Deve Gowda for their use of defence aircraft for non-official purposes.

Sources say that, earlier this month, the Defence Ministry was issued a directive from the highest levels to explore the idea of a settlement in the cases filed against the three former prime ministers in the Delhi High Court in February 2001.

Prime Ministers are not allowed by the SPG to travel by road, barring exceptional circumstances — yet they are charged for using planes on non-official purposes. It’s an ‘‘impractical’’ rule, leading to a catch-22 situation, which the government is seeking to change.

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‘‘Apart from the strict letter of the law, one cannot charge a Prime Minister for making a detour to attend a private function while on an official visit…The Prime Minister cannot travel by an Indian Airlines flight so he has no options but to use defence aircraft’’, a Defence Ministry official said.

Of the Rs 24 crore outstanding, the principal amount is Rs 12.18 crore. Chandrasekhar has an outstanding amount of Rs 5.91 crore with more than Rs 7 crore as interest; P.V. Narasimha Rao owes Rs 5.72 crore with more than Rs 4 crore as interest and H.D. Deve Gowda Rs 54.6 lakh with more than Rs 25 lakh as interest.