The Wire: New Delhi: Friday, July
29, 2016.
The
amendments will also set different standards for assets and liabilities
declarations for the bureaucracy and ministers.
The central
government on Wednesday tabled a Bill to amend Section 44 and the related
rule-making provision in Section 59 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act (LL Act)
to restrict its coverage to “only a public servant,” which was passed by
parliament on Thursday. The amendment seeks to do away with provisions that
bring the spouse and dependent children of a public servant under the ambit of
the law, and to empower the government to make rules regarding the form and
manner of declarations of assets and liabilities that will have retrospective
effect. Rights activists, however, have expressed concerns that the Bill may be
used to dilute the law, restrict the disclosures from becoming public, and
protect the bureaucracy and ministers from making disclosures in a transparent
fashion.
According to
the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s Venkatesh Nayak, who analysed the
provisions of the Bill, “the amendments will restrict the declaration only to
the assets and liabilities of the public servant. Assets and liabilities of the
spouse and dependent children will be exempt from such declarations”.
Nayak also
pointed out that the current formulation of Section 44 requires the mandatory
public disclosure of the assets and liabilities statements by public servants
on the official websites of their ministries and departments. As such, he said,
“the amendments seek to do away with this proactive disclosure requirement. So
people will not have access to the assets and liabilities statements of the
public servant at all under the LL Act. This will only be a non-public
declaration”.
The Wire had
previously reported on the concerns of rights activists who have long fought to
strengthen the transparency law, demanding all categories of public servants
declare their assets and make these available in the public domain.
Nayak said
although some sections of the media reported that NGOs will benefit from these
amendments, the only benefit he could recognise is what is available to other
public servants declaring one’s own assets and liabilities, and not that of
the spouse or dependent children and that now the declarations will not be
made public proactively.
But, he said,
the office bearers of NGOs specified in the LL Act, such as directors,
secretaries, managers and other officers, will still have to submit their
assets and liability declarations to the concerned authorities. “In the case of
NGOs covered by the Foreign Contribution Regulation Ac, 2010 declarations by
their office bearers will have to be submitted online to the Union Home
Minister. However, recent news reports indicate, the Government is
contemplating extension of the deadline for this requirement,” he said.
The NGOs had
all through feared that in the guise of heeding to the requests of the sector
to remove its board members from the purview of the LL Act, the Centre might
use the opportunity to claim those who fought for the Act are now shying away
from it. According to Nayak, the fears appear to be coming true.
“It’s quite
possible that the assets and liabilities declarations of IAS, IPS and IFoS
officers that are currently in the public domain, may be withdrawn if the
amendments to the LL Act are approved by parliament,” he asserted.
Simultaneously,
he expressed apprehension that “the proactive disclosure of the assets and
liabilities declarations of Union Ministers under the Code of Conduct
applicable to them may also go offline as a result of the amendments to the LL
Act”.
Currently, he
said, the Prime Minister’s Office website displays the assets and liabilities
declarations for only four cabinet ministers and two ministers of state for
2015-16.
Even when it
comes to disclosure of assets by members of parliament (MPs), Nayak said they
are not automatically made public. “Under 75A of the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 all individuals elected to either House of Parliament are
required to furnish their assets and liability statements to the Chairs of the
respective Houses. Such declarations must include assets and liabilities
details of their spouses and dependent children. Both the Lok Sabha and the
Rajya Sabha have made Rules for ensuring compliance with this statutory
requirement. People have sought this information under The Right to Information
Act, 2005 often with success. Interestingly, Section 75A does not apply to
members of State Legislatures.”
The RTI
activist further stated that at present all candidates contesting elections to
parliament, the state legislatures, and the offices of the President and the
Vice President of India are also required to furnish on affidavit their assets
and liabilities declaration besides data about their educational background and
criminal antecedents, if any, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
These
affidavits, he said, are publicly accessible not only on the website of the
ECI, but also on the notice boards of the returning officers prior to
elections. “So if the amendments to the Lokpal Act receive parliamentary
approval, MPs will be setting a standard for government servants that is at variance
with the transparency standards that bind them during elections,” he pointed
out.
Questioning
the logic behind granting such exemptions to the bureaucracy and the ministers,
Nayak said after the furore created by the judges’ assets case in 2009-2010,
judges of several high courts, as well as judges of the Supreme Court, also
began to voluntarily disclose their assets and liabilities statements. Under
the LL Act all such statements would have to be proactively disclosed on the
websites of these courts. But now, Nayak wonders if this practice will be
retained or discarded with the amendments to the LL Act being passed.
The move, he
cautioned, would also impact those states that had amended their Panchayati Raj
laws requiring those candidates who contest panchayat polls to declare their
assets and liabilities details on affidavit. “Whether these statutory
provisions will continue to remain or be wound up by those States, in the
aftermath to the amendments to the LL Act remains to be seen.”
According to
Nayak, this would mean different standards for assets and liabilities
declarations for public servants will operate in India.
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