Keralam Minister K.M. Shaji again defends his use of luxury car as official vehicle

Keralam Minister K.M. Shaji has defended his use of a luxury car, a Range Rover, as his official vehicle. According to Shaji, the vehicle belongs to a friend he has known since his time as an MLA from Azhikode. He stated that there is no rule requiring a minister's vehicle to be government-owned, and that the vehicle used by a minister is considered their official vehicle.

Shaji referred to government orders issued by the General Administration Department, including one on May 23, 2026, which governed the use of vehicles by ministers. He claimed that similar orders had been issued in 2011, 2016, and 2021, and that these rules only specified the number assigned to a minister's vehicle and the display of the national flag.

Shaji argued that there was nothing wrong with using a privately owned vehicle for government-related purposes, as long as official privileges were not misused for personal gain.

The IUML leader also blamed the media for lapping up a controversy created by the CPI(M), according to The Hindu. Shaji expressed his stance that people should not assume that he used the vehicle in expectation of a favour in return.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Hindu, Hindustan Times — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.