6 legislators fail to declare assets
As many as four MLAs and two MLCs have failed to declare their assets and liabilities to the Karnataka Lokayukta.
Addressing the media in Bangalore on Saturday, Lokayukta Shivaraj Patil said that the last date for declaring assets was June 31 and a two-month grace period was given to those who had failed to submit their declarations before the stipulated time.
“As the following MLAs did not meet even the August-end deadline, their names have to be published in leading newspapers as per procedure. If the legislators fail to submit their information even after this, then the Lokayukta can issue show cause notices to them,” added Patil.
The four MLAs who have failed to submit their declarations are: Dr Sarvabhouma Bagali, Indi (BJP); Chandra Nayak, Hadagali (BJP); Dinakar Keshava Shetty, Kumta (JD-S); and K Raju, Ramanagara (JD-S).
Patil said that though MLCs V V Gayatri Shantegowda (Congress) and Puttanna (JD-S) had submitted their documents, they had missed the deadline. Hence, their names too were being included in this list, he added.
NREGA scam
Following newspaper reports about Bagali’s son Sanket Bagali having illegally obtained NREGA benefits, Patil said he had taken suo motu decision to initiate action against the district administration and department officials of Indi taluk, Bijapur.
Sanket Bagali, who is the director of a sugar factory, along with his relative Saraswati Bagali is said to have obtained Rs 9,950 from Syndicate Bank by claiming to have worked on a check dam project and as agriculture labourers.
Patil said action had not been initiated against Bagali, as the Lokayukta was not the competent authority to book MLAs.
