PIL: Maharashtra minister should foot ₹42-L bill for chartered flights used by him

The Bombay high court (HC) has refused to grant urgent hearing to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a social activist, seeking directions to energy minister Nitin Raut to pay around ₹42 lakh which power firms had paid for his chartered flights

The Bombay high court (HC) has refused to grant urgent hearing to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a social activist, seeking directions to energy minister Nitin Raut to pay around ₹42 lakh which power firms had paid for his chartered flights.

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Raut had earlier denied the allegations.

The PIL, based on information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from various power generation and distribution companies, has alleged that during the lockdown, the Congress leader had used chartered flights on numerous occasions in the name of ‘administrative work’ and had made the power companies foot the bills . The PIL has claimed that as the money shelled out by the companies is public money, the minister should be directed to reimburse the said amounts, as he used the chartered flights for his personal use.

The PIL filed by social activist and lawyer Vishwas Pathak was mentioned on Friday before the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni. Pathak, who is also the media head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, sought an urgent hearing of the petition as it involved loss of public money. He claimed that during the lockdown, when the country’s highest officials were performing their duties from remote and virtual setups, Raut “flouted existing norms on multiple occasions and took the liberty to travel around the country during the lockdown period for his personal reasons under the pretext of administrative work.”

Pathak has alleged that the bills were paid by state-owned companies that are publicly funded and are discharging public duties and public welfare schemes.

The petition has alleged that companies – Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Magagenco), Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (Mahatransco) and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) – under pressure from Raut had to pay for the flights.

In light of these submissions, the PIL has sought directions to the minister to reimburse the companies as well as to a couple of companies to furnish information of the flight bills paid by them which they had refused to share through the RTI queries.

After hearing the petition, the bench said that due to the Covid-19 situation, it was hearing only urgent matters till April 30 and hence would hear the petition only after that.