The Mizoram Governor,Kamla Beniwal spent around Rs8.5 crore on travelling during her tenure as Gujarat Governor from 2009 to 2014.
Beniwal who was transferred to Mizoram last month, following her unwillingness to resign from the post, allegedly enjoyed air-travelling worth 277 hours through 63 trips. Interestingly, of these 63 trips, 53 were destined to her native place Jaipur.The former Gujarat Governor’s 500 days travelling cost Gujarat exchequer almost Rs8.5 crore. Her air-travelling cost to Jaipur alone was Rs1.4 crore during the period. If sources in the Gujarat Government have to be believed, the State Government is planning to recover Rs1.4 crore as her personal expenditure.
Beniwal was at loggerhead with former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Government. Her differences with the Modi Government reached at its peak when she returned the Gujarat lokayukta Commission Bill 2013, despite the State Assembly passing it with a clear majority.She objected to a clause that gives all powers to appoint the State lokayukta to a committee headed by the Chief Minister, virtually eliminating the Governor as well as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court from the process.
The controversy did not end with rejection of the bill, but, her letter addressed to Gujarat Assembly highlighting her objections on the said bill, leaked in the media through an unknown e-mail ID.
The bill was passed after the Modi Government lost a two-year long legal battle in the Supreme Court over the appointment of retired judge RA Mehta as lokayukta. Beniwal appointed Mehta without consulting the State Cabinet, much to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s chagrin. Amid public spats, Modi had repeatedly demanded that Governor Beniwal be recalled, before he became the Prime Minister.