Deccan Herald: New Delhi: Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Over Rs 7 cr pending telephone dues of parliamentarians, past and present
Over Rs 7 crore telephone dues are pending against sitting and former Members of Parliament. Despite being defaulters, the phones of the MPs cannot be disconnected as they enjoy “some immunity”.
These facts were disclosed by a Right to Information (RTI) application filed to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). The reply from MTNL also stated that MPs enjoy 1.5 lakh free calls per year, over which telephone bills are issued in their names.
“It is indeed a cruel joke on taxpayers’ hard-earned money. MTNL has no initiative to recover pending dues from legal heirs of late MPs as well,” said RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who filed the application.
“Late Lok Sabha MP and veteran Congress member ABA Ghani Khan Chaudhary’s phone bills (Delhi and constituency dues) are the highest at Rs 34,43,963,” said Agrawal.
Bill details of six sitting MPs and 399 ex-parliamentarians — both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were mentioned in the RTI reply, of which several former MPs have passed away.
Among the sitting MPs, Lok Sabha member Ram Sunder Das of Janta Dal (United) has the highest pending bill of Rs 9,49,866, of which Rs 6,11,053 are Delhi dues and Rs 3,38,813 are constituency dues.
As far as former parliamentarians are concerned, Rajya Sabha member Janardhan Yadav of BJP has a pending bill of Rs 2,229,956 Delhi dues of Rs 6,58,827 and constituency Rs 5,71,129.
Lok Sabha member Basava Raj Patil, also from BJP, has the next highest pending bill of Rs 1,720,815 with Rs 1,196,06 as Delhi dues and Rs 1,601,209 as constituency dues.
The sitting MPs have a total pending due of Rs 1,978,027. The pending dues of former MPs come to Rs 71,088,719. The list of dues is from 1980 to 2011.
“For outstanding dues, a public interest litigation is also being heard in the Delhi High Court, and an action taken report is being filed from time to time,” said the reply from MTNL.
MTNL further stated that the decision to disconnect the phones of MPs can only be taken by the circle head.
“The circle head must write a letter to MP concerned, inviting attention to the unpaid bills and giving reasonable time to clear the dues,” an MTNL officer wrote in the Right to Information reply.
“A decision about the extreme step of disconnection shall be taken only by the head of the circle or telecom district and not by any subordinate officer,” the officer wrote.
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