Many legislators yet to submit details of assets

Six MLCs have failed to file their annual statements of assets and liabilities before the Lokayukta for two consecutive years even after receiving reminders. Similarly, two MLAs, Vijayanand Kashappanavar (2014-15) and K Shivamurthy (2015-16), did not submit the statements.

This year, 90 legislators failed to submit the statements till June 30, 2017, the day legislators have to file the returns according to the Lokayukta Act. A senior Lokayukta official said legislators have been submitting statements even after June 30, since the Act has not fixed any time frame for the Lokayukta to send a report to the governor.

Sources said that in the year 2014-15, three MLCs, D U Mallikarjuna, Basavaraj Patil and Chowda Reddy Thupalli, did not submit the statements. In the year 2015-16, three MLCs, Chowda Reddy Thupalli, D U Mallikarjuna and Kantaraju failed to submit them. Among the MLAs, Vijayanand Kashappanavar (Hungund) and K Shivamurthy (Mayakonda) failed to submit the returns for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. The powers of the Lokayukta are limited to sending a report to the governor and after two months, publish the names of the legislators who failed to submit the statements.

“The Act does not stipulate when the Lokayukta should send the report to the governor after June 30 every year. This allows legislators to submit statements even after the stipulated date and we cannot refuse. And the role of the Lokayukta ends with issuing releases to newspapers announcing the names of the legislators. This year, the government has also not sent the list of ministers after the Cabinet reshuffle,” the official said.

Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said the Lokayukta must take action against legislators who fail to submit statements under IPC. “It is true that Lokayukta Act does not have a provision for further action. In my tenure, two cases were registered against legislators under Section 176 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The section pertains to failure to give notice or information to a public servant by a person legally bound to give it. If convicted, the legislators are liable for one-month imprisonment,” he said.