Question : MISUSE OF DEFENCE PLANES

(a) whether the Government are aware of blatant misuse of defence aircraft for non-official purposes by many persons including senior army and airforce officers;

(b) if so, the details of such cases of misuse recorded during each of the last three years alongwith the names of officers involved therein and the action taken against them;

(c) the money spent on such-non-official trips;

(d) the steps taken to recover such amount from the concerned officers and to ensure that defence aircraft are not misused; and

(e) the details of air-crash met by Chetak Helicopter near Vaisno Devi shrine and the outcome of the inquiry held in this regard?

MINISTER OF DEFENCE (SHRI GEORGE FERNANDES)

(a) & (b): Senior Service Officers are provided airlift facility, in accordance with the existing instructions, governing use of defence aircraft and no case of misuse of the facility has come to light.


(c) & (d): Does not arise in view of reply to (a) & (b) above.

(e) A Chetak helicopter of the Indian Army crashed near Vaishno Devi Shrine. A formal Court of Inquiry to investigate into all aspects of the accident has been ordered by the Army Hqrs. Findings are awaited.