Deve Gowda Will Pay IAF Dues Within Three Days of Court Order
DHNS/PTI
Bangalore, Jun 30: Former Prime Minister and JD-S chief H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday said he will pay Rs 54 lakh dues to the Indian Air Force, which has approached the Delhi High Court to recover the money.
"I will pay the entire dues once the high court orders. Within three days of the order, I will pay the amount," he told reporters here. The IAF has approached the Delhi High Court to recover the dues from Gowda for the use of its aircraft allegedly for non-official purposes.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has filed a suit in the Delhi High Court to recover about Rs 54 lakh from former prime minister H D Deve Gowda who had hired its aircraft for private use during the 1996-97 election campaign. The IAF has been trying to recover the dues from the JD-S chief since 1996-97.
According to the official document, Rs 54,61,497 and Rs 5,91,31,476 are due from Deve Gowda and Chandrasekhar respectively. “It is mentioned that Shri Chandrashekhar, Shri P V Narasimha Rao, Shri H D Deve Gowda and Shri V C Shukla had availed of airlift facilities of the IAF for non-official purposes during their tenure as prime ministers and cabinet minister,” said a reply of the IAF to an RTI application. The suit against Deve Gowda is pending in the court of Registrar, High Court of Delhi.
The Ministry of Defence has resorted to various legal and administration measures, including filing of civil suits to recover the above amounts, the reply to RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal said. On a question whether the authorities proposed to recover the dues from the late Chandrasekhar, the reply is categorical: “The civil suit against Chandrasekhar in Delhi High Court in 2001 was dismissed on January 24, 2008, on account of his death.”
“Based on the advice of Ministry of Law and Justice, an appeal is proposed to be filed in the Delhi High Court to recover airlift dues from his legal heirs/political party,” said the reply. The suit against Deve Gowda is pending in the court of Registrar, High Court of Delhi.