Many such stories will come out in due course. I am quoting part of the news published by Mint. This is possibly for the first time someone has to talk about going to court to recover an unpaid hotel bill for the stay of the PM of the world’s 4th largest economy.
Varanasi, May 14 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a roadshow
PM Narendra Modi's stay in Mysuru hotel: ₹80.6 lakh unpaid for over a year; Radisson Blu Plaza may go to court: Report
The hotel where Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed in April 2023, Radisson Blu Plaza in Mysuru, is considering legal action because his bills of ₹80.6 lakh have not been paid, The Hindu reported. PM Modi was in Mysuru to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger, organized by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF).
The State Forest Department was told to organise an event from April 9 to 11, costing ₹3 crore with full funding from the Central government. However, following urgent instructions from top officials at MoEF and NTCA, the event's total expense rose to ₹6.33 crore, added the publication
Discussions about unpaid hotel bills for the prime minister's stay in Mysuru have been going on. The issue was initially raised by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) to the NTCA in New Delhi on September 29, 2023. The NTCA later responded in February 2024, stating that the State government should cover these expenses.
However, the publication reported that - despite subsequent reminders from the new Principal Chief Conservator in March 2024 and the hotel's finance manager in May 2024, the ₹80.6 lakh bill remains unsettled.
If what is published in the media is correct the State Forest Department was asked to organize the event. In such cases, the typical process is that the fund is generally released in advance by the central government department to the respective state government. And even if the state government has to share part of the expenditure, necessary budget approval from the ministry is taken in advance not post facto. And once the budget is approved the release of funds is just an administrative process. In fact, most often the fund is released in advance. The department can not issue work orders without having funds released.
In this case, it looks like the event was organized hurriedly, there was not enough time to complete the fund release process. Possibly the amount of ₹3 crore that has been disbursed by the Centre was also post-facto instead of typical practice of advance release. The next question is why the event budget got doubled from Rs.3 crores to 6.33 crores at the last moment. This proves that a number of activities got lined up hurriedly and concurrence was taken over video conference instead of regular channels of communication.
What does that indicate? In all possibilities PM Modi was not scheduled to attend the event as per the original plan. Or rather possibly the whole plan of the event was arranged hurriedly as per instruction of the PM since he needed media space & focus before the Karnataka election held on the 10th of May. When things get organised hurriedly there is always a chance of procedural lapse. The state government couldn’t have approved the budget at the last moment because of the model code of conduct in force. The matter would have been regularised had the BJP elected to power. Now the Congress government can not give post facto approval even if it wants. It can not sign any file in back date since it was not in power.
It is clearly understood that there was no budget approval from the state government. The entire expenditure was to be made by the central government. The MoEF and NTCA also seem not regularised the budget outlay and now trying to put the ball in the state’s court. Why should the state pay for the activity organized for Modi’s interest? This is a typical practice of our honourable PM, he would make several visits to the election-bound state to get the media spotlight on the state’s expenditure. Whereas the entire purpose of such a visit is purely political. The aforesaid event looks to be one such visit just a month before the election day.
People would remember how many visits he made to UP before the UP assembly election in 2022. I believe all those visits were official visits of the PM paid from the government exchequer. In 2021 he visited Bangladesh during the Bengal election and he was shown all day long on TV visiting temples there and meeting Mtual community religious leaders there. West Bengal has a sizable population of the Motual community. All these visits and events are entirely politically motivated for electoral gain but at the cost of the government. However, the dirtier part of it is that even there they play politics in releasing payment. Just imagine a hotel has to go to court for disbursement of PM’s hotel stay.
Edit:
If the matter goes to court. The state government will be forced to disclose all internal communications received from the MoEF and NTCA. That may expose how the PM might have intervened at the last moment by instructing to organize and attend the event. Which will not be good for his image. And if all processes were followed then the Congress government in Karnataka will be on the receiving side. Just imagine if the court somehow orders the BJP to bear all the expense, or the union government to bear the cost, how humiliating it would be for the PM. The timing of the event could go against the PM and it could be seen as an electioneering activity of the BJP. Ideally, the PM shouldn’t have taken part in any such activity so close to the election, just a month before the election date. It should actually be considered as a breach of the model code of conduct. The event could have been organized three months before the election or after the election. This is a legal issue.
The schedule of the Karnataka assembly election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 29 March 2023. The Model Code of Conduct "came into force with immediate effect" with the announcement of the schedule by The Election Commission
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