CM Rawat among 54 Uttarakhand MLAs yet to submit property details, reveals RTI
The defaulters include parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant, Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh, and Congress president Pritam Singh
Fifty-four legislators in Uttarakhand, including chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, have failed to submit the details of their movable and immovable property with the state Vidhan Sabha secretariat, information sought under Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed.
The defaulters include parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant, Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh, and Congress president Pritam Singh.
In the house of 70, excluding one nominated Anglo-Indian MLA, 76 per cent of the legislators had not provided property details until March 28 this year, the Vidhan Sabha secretariat said in reply to a RTI application by activist Nadimuddin.
Even the nominated Anglo-Indian member is among the defaulters.
As per the Uttar Pradesh Ministers and Legislators (Publication of Assets & Liabilities) Act 1975, which Uttarakhand has adopted, members of the state assembly are required to submit details of their assets and liabilities within three months of getting elected. Similarly, members have to provide an updated list for the last financial year by June 30.
The elections for the state assembly were held in February last year.
Even as the lawmakers’ debate and promise transparency and clean governance, the long list of defaulters in the assembly speaks otherwise, said Nadimuddin.
Only three cabinet ministers in the Rawat government, Speaker Prem Chandra Agarwal and 13 other MLAs have filed details under the Act. The ministers who furnished property details include Satpal Maharaj (tourism), Yashpal Arya (transport), and Harak Singh Rawat (forest).
“Chief minister has repeatedly made claims about maintaining transparency in the state. But most of the elected representatives are not following even basic rules,” said Nadimuddin.
The chief minister’s office said they will furnish details in due time.
“Chief minister’s affidavit on the movable and immovable property is already available in the public domain but we will provide it to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat as well,” said Darshan Rawat, CM’s media coordinator.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pant said he could not provide details as “it slipped from his memory”.
“I made a mistake and will correct it soon,” he added.
Congress MLA Manoj Rawat, whose name figures in the defaulter’s list, also made a similar comment.