New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry has given a clean chit to Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in the controversy over de-boarding of an Indian Foreign Service officer and his family from an Air India flight in Leh.
The Ministry has informed the PMO that Rijiju was not at "fault" for the delay in Air India's Leh-Delhi flight on June 24, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said.
The PMO had on Thursday sought a report from the Civil Aviation Ministry on allegations that Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had caused inconvenience to passengers of Air India owing to his VIP status.
The incident occurred on June 24 when Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, his assistant and Nirmal Singh were to travel from Leh to Delhi. To accommodate them, three members of the family of an IFS officer, including a child, were disallowed from boarding the flight AI-446, according to reports. This also delayed the flight.
The revelation came days after a similar case came to light that an Air India flight to Newark from Mumbai was delayed by nearly an hour on June 29 as an aide of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis did not have valid US visa.
After the controversy erupted, Rijiju apologised. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju also had apologised for inconvenience caused to the passengers.
"As Civil Aviation Minister, I apologise to all those affected (by these incidents)," Ashok Gajapathi Raju told a press conference.
He said "indefensible" incidents should never have happened. "Whatever has happened should not have happened. I need to get to the truth," he said while responding to a volley of questions on the two incidents.
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