Chief Minister among 104 MLAs in Karnataka who fail to file details of assets

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is among the 104 MLAs in Karnataka, who have received notices for their failure to file the annual statement on the details of their assets and liabilities before the Lokayukta – the provincial ombudsman.

When the last date for filing the annual statement on the details of their assets and liabilities expired on July 1 this year, only 121 out of the 225 members of the legislative assembly in Karnataka had complied with the provisions of the Lokayukta Act.

The list of 104 defaulters includes not only the Chief Minister, but also a total of eleven Ministers in his Government, including his brother and Energy Minister H D Revanna.

A letter sent to the Chief Minister by the Lokayukta two days ago on August 8 has urged him to file the details of his assets and liabilities immediately.

Barely a week ago, Kumaraswamy, who has been facing corruption charges, publicly declared that he had sent the details of the properties owned by him and his family to the Lokayukta and that he would request the authorities to make them public on its official website.

Incidentally, former Minister D K Shivakumar, who exposed the purchase of an Information Technology (IT) park by the Chief Minister’s family, is also in the list of MLAs, who had failed to comply with the law.

Though the list of defaulters cuts across all party lines, the JD (S) legislators top the list. Out of the 59 JD (S) MLAs, as many as 43 had failed to comply with the statutory requirement. The MLAs belonging to the Opposition take the second position with 28 out of the 64 MLAs failing to file a statement on their assets and liabilities. A total of 14 BJP MLAs are also on the list of offenders.

The process of exposing the MLAs, who had failed to file their annual returns, began on July 1 this year with the then Lokayukta N Venkatachala sending a list of 104 defaulting MLAs to Governor T N Chaturvedi.

The Governor forwarded the list to the Speaker of the Assembly Krishna on July 14. Soon after receiving the letter, Krishna sent individual letters to the MLAs and asked them to file their statements at the earliest.
According to Government sources, a total of seven MLAs had filed a statement on their assets and liabilities after the deadline lapsed on July 1. “But, still there are 97 MLAs, who are yet to file the statement on their assets”, an official said