Aboobaker faces allegations of 'lavish spending', says charges baseless

This was the bill the chairman of Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation chairman N. B. Aboobaker allegedly ran for a single meal at the Chicken Inn Restaurant at Pandara Road, New Delhi at the expense of taxpayers, according to a report in Kannada Prabha.

As president of the statutory body, Mr Aboobaker is entitled to spend maximum Rs 300 per day for his expenses towards meals and beverages and Rs. 700 per day towards TA and DA. However, according to information obtained through a query under Right to Information, he has been overshooting the limit quite frequently.

However, Mr. Aboobaker has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

According to documents in possession of Amir Khan, an RTI activist, Mr. Abooabker has travelled to Bangalore and back 76 times by flight over the last two and half years that he has been president of the board. House rent, telephone, entertainment, diesel, flight tickets and tourism are his major expenses during this period. He ran a whopping Rs 11,12,749 for the year 2009-10 and Rs. 12,65,809 for 2010-11. The bill that he ran for 2011-12 (upto October) it was Rs 5,57,147.

Every year crores of rupees are set aside in the budget for the development of minorities. But unfortunately the personal expenses of the chairmen and staff of the boards and corporations seems to be eating away a huge part of this allocation. Mr. Aboobaker has also flown to Delhi, Agra and Mumbai several times, according to the data provided in the official reply, claimed Mr. Khan. He has also submitted a memoranda to Governor H.R. Bharadwaj and chief minister Sadananda Gowda seeking a crackdown on Mr. Aboobaker's alleged extravagant expenditure.

Mr. Khan also alleges that he has been victimised for speaking out and a complaint has been filed against him in the Cubbon Park Police station, Bangalore. He has sought a CID inquiry into the squandering of public money by Mr. Aboobaker and urged the government to recover it from him, besides stripping him of his office.

Mr. Aboobaker, however, has strongly denied the allegations and urged chief minister to take action against Mr. Khan for misguiding the media by providing false information.

Speaking to media persons at the press club in Bangalore, Mr. Aboobaker said, the basis for Mr. Khan's allegation was the bill footed by the Corporation for the dinner provided to officers who attended a meeting of the National Minorities Development Corporation in New Delhi.

“He (Khan) is trying to give an impression that I am spending Rs. 1,000 on a day-to-day basis. It is a hobby for him to harass government employees,” he said.