Ninety-eight MLAs and seven Lok Sabha MPs are under investigation for prima facie discrepancy between their assets and declared sources of income, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) informed the Supreme Court on Monday.
The CBDT affidavit said the investigative arm of the Income Tax department has found that the assets of these lawmakers are disproportionate with their known sources of income.
The affidavit comes after the court made several stinging remarks about how the government machinery is not very forthcoming when it comes to revealing details of the mercurial increase in assets of politicians and lawmakers.
The CBDT said investigation into the assets of 42 MLAs and nine Rajya Sabha MPs is still pending. However, no discrepancy was found in the value of assets and the declared/source of income of 117 MLAs, 19 Lok Sabha MPs and two Rajya Sabha MPs.
The CBDT's investigation covers a list of 26 Lok Sabha MPs, 11 Rajya Sabha MPs and 257 MLAs handed over to the court by NGO Lok Prahari. The NGO claimed that the assets of the politicians in their list has seen a disproportionate growth, of up to 500%, from what they show at the time of nomination in the last election.
The CBDT said it received responses from the Directors General of Income Tax (Investigation) concerning the verification of the assets of 26 Lok Sabha MPs, 215 MLAs and two Rajya Sabha MPs in the list.
A Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and S. Abdul Nazeer, which is hearing the case, had expressed dissatisfaction with the CBDT's earlier affidavit.
“The government says it is not averse to some reform. But necessary information has not been put on record,” the court had observed.
The latest affidavit is accompanied by a sealed cover containing the certified true copies of verification reports filed by the investigative branch of the Income Tax department.
Lok Prahari had sought for complete disclosure of sources of income by the candidates contesting elections when they file nomination for elections. It had called for a separate column in the nomination form seeking details of the sources of income.
The plea has claimed that the candidates while filing their nomination papers were disclosing their assets, assets of their spouse, children and other dependents, but they do not reveal the sources of their income.
The CBDT affidavit said that since the I-T department is graduating towards a “non-intrusive method” of verification of politicians’ assets, it would only consider specific cases referred to it by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Laying down the parameters of such verification, the CBDT said it has reached a consensus that verification would be done in cases of politicians who have enjoyed “phenomenal growth when their current affidavit is compared to that filed by them during the previous election.”
Further, verification would be done in the cases of winning candidates; in instances where there was no PAN but movable and immovable assets exceed ₹5 crore, etc.
