HC seeks record on use of Defence planes by Mulayam

The court’s direction came during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that Mulayam had incurred an expenditure of Rs 41.57 crore to the Government by using the planes during his tenure as Defence minister and most of his flights were not connected to his official duties.

Meanwhile, Mulayam, while furnishing a long list of areas which he said, fell within the jurisdiction of the Ministry, said: “My official duties can be discerned from the list of allocation of business rules of Defence Ministry.” “I categorically state that the use of the Defence planes by me during my tenure as a minister were in the discharge of my official duties,” Mulayam said in an affidavit.

The PIL, filed by Advocate B.L. Wadhera, alleged that Mulayam had undertaken 307 flights during his tenure, covering 1,449 hours flying time and most of them were not for official purposes.

However, Mulayam said any subjective inquiry into whether a visit was official or not would cause a “great hardship” to any minister in the future, especially a Defence minister. Defence Minister George Fernandes had also used the Defence aircraft, Mulayam claimed.

“Five years later, if the present Defence Minister is asked to explain this journey, he may be hard pressed to do so,” he said, adding: “This may or may not be a clear case of use of Defence plane for political purpose but in certain cases the dividing line gets even foggier.”

Referring to the Government reply on this issue, Mulayam said the Chief of Air staff in his counter affidavit on March 10, 1999 stated that all trips undertaken by him (Mulayam) during his tenure as Defence minister were official and were so certified by the Air staff. “However, the nature and purpose of each visit could not be confirmed or denied by me beyond this,” he said.