Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari found himself in an embarrassing situation on Thursday morning as he was forced to disembark from a State Government aircraft minutes after he boarded the plane to fly to Dehradun to attend an official function at Mussoorie, as he had no official permission to use the aircraft. The Governor then left for Dehradun in a commercial flight.
Hours after a protocol controversy broke out between the Opposition and the MVA Government over the denial of permission to the Governor to use the State aircraft, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) laid the blame at the Raj Bhavan Secretariat saying that the staff there should have ascertained whether the Governor had received the requisite permission from the State Government to use the aircraft.
While the State Government stood its ground saying that the Governor faced the piquant situation owing to the lapse on the part of an official concerned at Raj Bhavan, the incident is being seen as fallout of a frosty relationship that has been prevailing between Koshyari and the Shiv Sena-led MVA Government.
The CMO said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had taken serious cognisance of the incident and asked the State administration to fix responsibility on the officials concerned at Raj Bhavan for the lapse.
Thursday’s drama unfolded as Koshyari, his two ADCs - one from Maharashtra and another from Goa (where he holds the additional charge as the Governor) and OSD -- reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) minutes before 10 am. They boarded the State Government’s 6-seater Cessna Citation XLS aircraft to head to Dehradun only to be told that the Governor had no permission to use the aircraft.
Undeterred by the embarrassment, Koshyari - who had served as the second Chief Minister of Uttarakhad (erstwhile Uttarnchal) from 2001 to 2002 - and his aides returned to the departure lounge and booked a scheduled commercial flight to Dehradun which departed Mumbai at around 12.15 pm and he reached his destination two hours later.
According to a statement issued by Raj Bhavan here, Koshyari was scheduled to preside over a Valedictory Function of the 122nd Induction Training Programme of IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie in Uttarakhand at 10 am hrs on Friday.
In its statement, Raj Bhavan clarified: “In preparation of the visit, the Governor’s Secretariat had written to Government of Maharashtra authorities seeking permission for the use of Government aircraft by the Governor, well in advance on February 2, 2021. The office of the Chief Minister was also informed”.
“Today, on 11th February 2021, the Governor reached the CSIM Airport at 1000 hrs and boarded the Government plane. However, the Governor was informed that the permission for the use of Government aircraft had not been received,” the statement said
“As directed by the Governor, tickets for Dehradun were booked for the Governor on a Commercial aircraft leaving Mumbai at 1215 hrs immediately and accordingly, he left for Dehradun,” the statement added.
On their part, several BJP leaders slammed the MVA Government for denying permission to the Governor to fly to Dehradun to attend an official function. Former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said: “What has happened is rather unfortunate. The Governor is not just an individual, he holds a Constitutional post. I have never seen such an egoistic dispensation as the MVA Government”.
While there was no official word from the CMO, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that he was not aware of the details of the incident. “I do not have details about the incident. I will have to enquire the officials concerned at Mantralaya (State Secretariat) before I comment,” he said.
Other senior Sena Ministers Subhash Desai and Anil Parab and NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal feigned ignorance about the incident. Congress’ Mumbai Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh said: “We respect the Governor. This kind of an incident should not have happened. I don’t know if there were any technical issues or had the aircraft not got the ATC clearance”.
However, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that he had spoken with the Chief Minister and “rules were followed by the Government”.
Later in a statement issued in the evening, the CMO said: “It was necessary for the the Raj Bhavan’s Secretariat to ascertain if the Governor had received permission from the State Government or not. Since no such confirmation had been obtained, the Governor had to face such a problem. There is no fault of the State Government at all”.
“Raj Bhavan had made a request to the Maharashtra Government that the Governor would like to use the aircraft (to go to Dehradun). Before embarking on such a journey, it was essential for the Raj Bhavan to obtain permission from the State Government as per rules. It is only after the permission is given by the State Government, the aircraft is made available,” the CMO statement said.
“Accordingly, the CMO had on February 10 informed Raj Bhavan that the permission had not yet been given for use of the aircraft by the Governor. Raj Bhavan should have planned the Governor’s journey only after obtaining the requisite permission for use of the aircraft. But, the Raj Bhavan Secretariat had not such permission from the State Government. As a result the Governor could not use the State Government’s aircraft”.
Indicating that action would be taken against the official concerned for the lapse, the CMO said: “Since the matter involved the Governor’s travel, his Secretariat should have taken all precautions. Since such a thing did not happen, the State Government has taken serious cognisance. The Chief Minister has asked the State administration to fix the responsibility on the officials concerned”.
It may be recalled that on October 12 last year, the Governor had triggered a controversy by rooting for the reopening of temples in the State. In a letter shot off to the Chief Minister, questioning the latter’s Hindutva credentials and wondering if Uddhav was receiving any “divine premonition” to keep postponing the re-opening of the places of worship time and again or whether he suddenly turned “secular”.
Uddhav, who normally does not agitated over the criticism directed at him or his Government, had hit back at Koshyari on the following day with vehemence, saying that he did not need any certificate for his being practitioner of Hindutva from the Governor and asking the latter if the latter meant “merely opening of temple means Hindutva and not opening means secular”.
There was another controversy over the Governor’s refusal to nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a Member of Legislative Council in one of the two vacant slots. It was another matter, Uddhav -- who was not a member of either of the Houses of the State Legislature when he was sworn in as the Chief Minister on November 28 2019 - was elected unopposed subsequently to the State Legislative Council, through a normal elections. On another occasion, the Governor had landed in an unsavoury situation by calling up Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and conveying his concern over the “security and health” of incarcerated editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network Arnab Goswami.