Air India pays for Dalit panel's 5-star spree

New Delhi: It is the best freebie anybody could have hoped for. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) splurged Rs 5.72 lakh of public money in December 2009 by staying in a Mumbai luxury hotel, availing its various five star facilities and then roaming around the financial capital in luxury cars.
In what is surely a blatant violation of ethics and a case of conflict of interest, the NCSC bills were paid for by Air India, one of the companies against which the scheduled castes commission was in Mumbai for three days to review scheduled caste employees cases. The delegation included NCSC chairman Buta Singh, vice-chairman N. M. Kamble, commission member Mahendra Bodh, Kamble's private secretary R. C. Kapoor, assistant director Kaushal Kumar and Singh's personal staff member Bhoovan Chandra. They stayed at The Trident, a luxury hotel at Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex and their expenses included room rent, food, travelling and usage of spa facilities.
On December 28, the delegation checked into some of the hotel's mid- segment rooms, which attracted a maximum tariff of Rs 22,500 per night. Kamble has a house in Mumbai. But he decided instead to live in five- star comfort with his colleagues. The accepted practice for any Central delegation is to stay at government guest houses in the city of visit.
When asked about the alleged flouting of travel rules and ethics, Singh accepted that he and other NCSC members had visited Mumbai to review cases of Air India and other public sector units. "There were cases involving other government institutions also," he said. He said staying at luxurious hotels was not unusual.
16/02/10 Dalip Singh/India Today

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Categories: NACIL Feb 2010