M A I N   N E W S

3 ex-PMs face legal action
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 28 — The Centre said today that it planned to initiate legal action against three former Prime Ministers — Mr Chandra Shekhar, Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao and Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, to recover Rs 11.80 crore due from them for using Defence aircraft for non-official purposes during their tenure.

“The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has given approval for initiating legal proceedings against three former Prime Ministers and notices for filing the suits against each of them will be served within two days”, the Additional Solicitor -General, Mr S.B. Jaisinghani, informed the Delhi High Court.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Kumar and Mr Justice D.K. Jain is hearing a public interest litigation, according to which Mr Rao owes Rs 5.52 crore, Mr Chandra Shekhar owes Rs 5.91 crore and Mr Gowda owes Rs 54.61 lakh.

Mr Jaisinghani said the draft of the legal notices was ready and the opinion of legal experts had been sought by the government.

The former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s name has been removed from the defaulters’ list as the Congress party has made a payment of Rs 1.86 crore for non-official use of Defence planes by him during his tenure.

The ASG said the Congress party, which earlier had agreed to pay the dues of Mr Rao in instalments, was silent on the issue even though the government had given the party March 31 as the last date for sending a communication.

However, Mr Chandra Shekhar and Mr Gowda’s parties have raised certain objections to the payments, he said

The ASG said Mr Gowda’s party, the Janata Dal (S) in its communication claimed that he had used the planes for party purposes and that the then Janata Dal President, Mr Sharad Yadav, had to reply on the issue.

“This stand of Mr Gowda’s party is improper and, therefore, we have decided to send notices to each individual instead of the parties concerned as was done earlier,” he said.

Samajwadi Janata Party leader, Chandra Shekhar, had questioned the very basis of making the political parties responsible for the payments of the unofficial journeys undertaken by the former Prime Minister, the Defence Ministry affidavit said.

By raising objections to the very basis of the government claim the two parties in a way have disowned the liabilities, the affidavit said, adding that their pleas were not “tenable.”

The PIL calls for actions against the Defence and Finance Ministries to take immediate steps for realising outstanding amounts as the government has failed to recover the money all these years.