Making sense of Social Welfare Minister A. Narayanaswamy’s annual property declarations to the Lokayukta since 2000-01is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that has several pieces missing.
The declarations of the last ten years (secured through an RTI application) appear to have several inconsistencies.
Undervalued
In 2010-11, he shows that he owns three acres of land in Gollahalli, two acres in Thogur and eight acres in Rayasandra. He estimates the three plots are together worth Rs. 1 crore.
But a sale deed, provided to The Hindu by a source, shows that the property in Rayasandra alone was purchased for Rs. 2.4 crore on January 22, 2010.
According to the source that provided this document, the property was heavily undervalued.
Although it is mandatory for the parties to mention the guidance value for a property in sale deeds, this fact is missing from the document. Mentioning the guidance value in sale deeds has been made mandatory to prevent people from undervaluing the property to evade tax and stamp duty.
Goes missing
In his 2000-01 declaration, he claims he owns six residential plots, but he does not mention their location, size or estimated value. The plots disappear from the declaration for the next two years. In 2004-05, he once again claims to own five plots without mentioning any further details about them. So, it is impossible to know if these plots are freshly acquired or part of his 2000-01 declaration.
Asked to respond, Mr. Narayanaswamy said: “I do not own any plots….I do not know what you’re talking about.”
In 2000-01, his wife is shown as the owner of eight acres and 12 guntas of land. The next year, the land holding is shown as 15 acres, without mentioning the location or ownership details. In 2002-03, 8 acres and 12 guntas owned by his wife make a re-appearance. This property does not appear after that.
In 2005-06, he claims to own three pieces of agricultural land in Yadavanahalli (4 acres), Handenahalli (5 acres) and Dodda Thogur (1 acre). The next year, he claims to own 12 acres, but reveals details of only nine out of the 12 acres (4 acres in Hadenahalli and 5 acres in Giddenhalli).
He also does not bother to explain what happened to his holdings in Yadavanahalli and Dodda Thogur, which he mentioned in his 2005-06 declaration. In his 2007-08 declaration, he once again claims to own 12 acres, but mentions names of three different villages — Yadavanahalli, Gollahalli and Jigani. In 2005-06, he says he owns four acres in Yadavanahalli but in 2007-08, he says he owns five acres in the same village without explaining how he procured the extra land. In 2009-10, he says he owns two acres of non-agricultural land without revealing its location or value.
Mr. Narayanaswamy told The Hindu , “If the Lokayukta wants to get clarifications, I can explain. I can’t speak like this.”
The former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, under whose tenure some of these declarations were made, said, “Unless somebody points it out, it is very difficult to scrutinise property declarations. It is unfortunate. But these declarations are made mandatory with the hope that the public would be able to scrutinise them.”
