RTI REVELATION Ministers run up huge flight bills Nirani Spent Rs 65,450 While Reddy Rs 67,961 For Single Round Trip
Naheed Ataulla | TNN http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIBG&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI Bangalore: If chief minister B S Yeddyurappa incurred Rs 20 lakh as cost to the state exchequer for a trip from Bangalore to Hubli and then on to New Delhi on a single day during the October-November BJP crisis, some of his cabinet colleagues were not far behind. While Murugesh R Nirani ran up a flight bill of Rs 65,450, revenue minister K Karunakara Reddy (from the dissidence camp) spent Rs 67,961 — both for a single round trip from Bangalore to New Delhi on different dates. TOI sourced the information under the Right to Information Act on visits by Yeddyurappa and his ministers to the capital during the crisis period of October 1 to November 8, 2009. While information on the CM’s visit was given promptly, TOI had to appeal to the State Information Commissioner to obtain the rest. The expenditure of both ministers for single trips is assumed to have been for the business class or they were accompanied by aides. If it was business class, the ministers violated the October 16 cabinet decision which put a clamp on business class travel as part of austerity measures due to floods. When contacted, Nirani sought time to get back on the purpose of his travel. “It must have been a trip to do with the Global Investors’ meet,’’ he added, though the government had already deferred the event from December 2009 to mid-2010. The replies said Nirani visited New Delhi on November 8 and returned the following day, while Karunakara Reddy went on October 19 and returned the next day. MODUS OPERANDI Procuring the information under RTI on the ministers’ trips to New Delhi was not easy. The chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s secretariat met the 30-day deadline and transferred the application (filed on November 13, 2009) within five days to the department of personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR) to collate the matter from other ministers. But, replies for the rest did not come until an appeal was filed before the State Information Commissioner (SIC). On December 18, DPAR said that since the staff was availing of their year-end leave, replies would be furnished in January. On January 18, 2010, its reply was that ministers’ staff had not sent the information. Under RTI rules, an applicant can file an appeal before the State Information Commissioner if the information is not furnished within 30 days or it’s incomplete. An appeal was filed and the DPAR under secretary (political protocol) S Thippeswamy admitted to the delay. The reason given was that since he had taken leave for 50 days, his subordinates had not handled it properly and information was not forthcoming from departments. SIC H N Krishna, who heard the appeal on February 18 said it was the duty of the Public Information Officer to obtain the information at any cost and ordered all replies should be furnished within t h re e days. YEDDYURAPPA FLIGHT On December 29, 2009, TOI reported how Yeddyurappa incurred a whopping Rs 20 lakh for a chartered flight on November 4. Though Yeddyurappa chose to make the trip official as he met Union ministers on the floods issue, the main agenda was summons by BJP’s central leadership which was trying to bring Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers, pioneering the rebellion, to the negotiating table. The cost was Rs 19,88,100. MINISTERS ENTITLEMENT AS PER KARNATAKA MINISTERS’ SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES ACT, 1956 Daily allowance of Rs 1,000 per day for days of journey and for days of halt at any place within Karnataka Daily allowance of Rs 1,200 outside the state If minister is a state guest, he shall be entitled only to one-fourth of daily allowance for the period to which he is treated One-fifth of flight cost as incidental expenditure
