THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has come under scrutiny over a chartered flight used for his visit to rain-hit Malappuram, with questions being raised over the ownership of the aircraft and its connection to a company that provides aviation services to the state government.

The aircraft is owned by Kelachandra Aviation, a company owned by the family of Karnataka Congress leader and minister K.J. George, according to a report by Onmanorama published on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister’s Office said the aircraft was made available free of cost.

The flight was operated by Chipson Aviation, which has provided helicopter services to the Kerala government and is seeking a renewal of its contract with the state, the report said. Its three-year contract expired on Sept. 19.

The government is considering changing the way it pays for helicopter services, moving away from a fixed monthly fee towards a system based on actual flying hours.

Under the contract that expired this month, the government paid ₹80 lakh a month for up to 25 hours of flying, irrespective of whether those hours were fully used. Additional charges applied if usage exceeded 25 hours.

Satheesan said the government was looking at ways to substantially reduce the cost because the helicopter was typically being used for only four or five hours a month.

“We are considering whether the amount paid for the helicopter used by the government can be reduced by half,” Satheesan said. He said police and disaster management authorities had advised the government that a helicopter remained necessary for the state.

The controversy over the chartered flight comes as Satheesan’s government is also facing questions over Minister K.M. Shaji’s use of a privately owned Range Rover carrying a government board and registration number.

Shaji, who is currently in Bulgaria, is expected to return on Sept. 26 and will use a government vehicle after his return, according to sources cited by Onmanorama.

The dispute began after Shaji travelled in a friend’s Range Rover while displaying a government board. Shaji said permission had been obtained for the arrangement, though the approval was later reported to have been limited to a specific journey.

Satheesan defended the minister, saying Shaji had resorted to the private vehicle after his official car, purchased in 2017, developed a fault. He said the Protocol Department had permitted the minister to use another vehicle.

Satheesan questioned whether extending the use of the vehicle for a few hours beyond the permitted period warranted the criticism and said several vehicles assigned to ministers were ageing and prone to breakdowns.

Earlier helicopter row

The latest dispute has also revived attention on an earlier controversy involving the use of an aircraft by former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In December 2017, Vijayan flew from Thrissur, where he had attended a CPI(M) district conference, to Thiruvananthapuram to meet a central team assessing damage caused by Cyclone Ockhi.

The government initially decided to charge the cost of that flight to the disaster management fund, prompting criticism. The Chief Minister’s Office subsequently withdrew the order. The flight had also been arranged by Chipson Aviation.

The two cases involve different circumstances. The 2017 controversy centred on the proposed use of disaster management funds to pay for the flight, while the current dispute centres on a government-related journey aboard a privately provided aircraft that the Chief Minister’s Office says was made available at no cost to the state.