Six Lok Sabha MPs are yet to declare their assets and liabilities (A&L) details. The Congress representatives topped the list with four. The remaining two are from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
According to an information provided by the Lok Sabha secretariat, in a letter dated September 12, 2011 to Right to Information (RTI) activist Subhah C. Agarwal of Delhi, MPs who failed to submit their A & L details had been repeatedly reminded to do so.
“No action has been taken against them. They have verbally assured [the Lok Sabha Secretariat] that they will furnish the same at the earliest.”
The reply also had an annexure carrying the names of those MPs from whom A&L details were awaited as on September 5, 2011. They are: Tarachand Bagora, Banswara (ST) constituency, Rajasthan; Vitthalbahi Hansrajbhai Radadiya, Porbander, Gujarat; Rajkumari Ratna Singh, Pratapgarh, U.P.; Harsh Vardhan, Maharajganj, U.P (all belonging to Congress); Ramakant Yadav, Azamgarah, U.P. (BJP); and Dhananjay Singh, Jaunpur, U.P. (BSP).
Mr. Agarwal was informed that the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and Singhbhum (ST) independent member Mahdu Kora was exempted by the Lok Sabha Speaker from submitting A&L details. Mr. Kora is presently lodged in Tihar jail here following his arrest in corruption cases including, possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and the CBI is investigating the cases.
According to the reply, it was found not feasible to computerise all the documents of declaration of A&L of all the Lok Sabha MPs, therefore it had been decided not to upload this information on the website. The secretariat was already supplying the photocopies of all the declarations of A&L of all the members as and when applications were received under the RTI.
To a query, the secretariat said the information on all the expenditure incurred on perks and travelling allowances of each MP was not ready available. However, it said, the RTI applicant could visit the secretariat and inspect the salary, TA, DA registers.
