In its continued tirade against Bharatiya Janata Party ministers, the Congress on Friday alleged that Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and State Education Minister Vinod Tawde possess multiple Director Identification Numbers (DIN), which is a punishable offence.
It attacked the BJP for diverting around Rs 25 lakh from the party fund in 2001 to a Marathi newspaper Mumbai Tarun Bharat, which was then run by a private company called Shree Multimedia Vision Limited, of which both the leaders were directors.
According to the documents released by Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, Mr Gadkari holds six DINs while Mr Tawde has three. “Having more than one DIN is a punishable offence under the Companies Act. The person can be jailed for around six months and charged with a fine,” said Mr Nirupam.
DIN is a unique identification number given to an existing director of any company. Mr Tawde did not resign from the director’s post in Shree Multimedia Vision Limited, a profit-oriented private company, after he became a minister.
The Congress alleged that the Education Minister violated the code of conduct for ministers as prescribed by the Central government.
“The Minister must resign from the private company’s directorial position within 60 days of assuming office,” said Mr Nirupam, referring to the code of conduct.
While the Congress demanded their resignations, Mr Tawde rubbished the allegations claiming only one of the three DINs was approved, one had been rejected and the other had lapsed. “The Congress is purposely maligning my image with fake allegations. It is its attempt to disrupt the upcoming Assembly session,” he said.
Rejecting the claims of conflict of interests, Mr Tawde said the issue did not even arise since his company had not bagged government contracts. “There is no such code of conduct for ministers. Even Congress ministers were on boards of private companies. They are blowing this non-issue out of proportion,” he said.
Coming out in support of Mr Tawde, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told The Hindu that he did not think that the Minister should resign on ‘unsubstantiated allegations’. He reiterated that Mr Tawde was an honorary director.
On Thursday, Mr Tawde claimed that he was an honorary director of the said company and did not claim any financial benefits from it. “Since no money was involved, it was not necessary to mention the information in my election affidavit,” he claimed.
However, the Congress stressed that a private company registered under the Companies Act did not have any arrangement for the post of honorary director and only non-profit charitable ones could appoint such positions. “How can the honorary director sign on the balance sheet of the company,” asked Mr Nirupam.
According to the Congress, Gadkari holds six DINs while Tawde
has three
