DNA: New Delhi: Thursday, July 28,
2016.
The Lok Sabha
on Wednesday cleared amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013,
pertaining to dilution of Section 44 of the Act dealing with disclosure of
assets of spouses of public servants and those holding positions on the boards
of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
In an
unprecedented step, neither the copies of the amendments were circulated to the
MPs, nor the Union cabinet had approved them ahead of introduction. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi invoked special powers, vested to him to approve the
Bill without the Cabinet clearance. The amendments will restrict the declaration
only of the assets and liabilities of the public servants only, sparing their
spouse and dependent children. The amendments will also seek to do away with
this proactive disclosure requirement. The public servants includes the
government officials, political functionaries that is the Prime Minister,
Ministers and also the Members of Parliament.
Minister of
state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh moved the amendments,
which was not listed in the business list, assuring the members that a Standing
Committee of Parliament will be looking into the amendments in any case. The
amendment were cleared without discussion amidst protests from the Opposition
benches. On the urgency, the minister said since the date of filing such
returns was July 30, it has become necessary to address the impasse.
The
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and several members of Parliament,
including nominated member Anu Agha and independent MP in the Rajya Sabha
Rajeev Chandrashekhar had raised concerns over the income disclosure clause for
trustees and board members of NGOs. According to the minister civil servants,
mostly lady officers had also raised the issue that the spouses were working
elsewhere and they were not very clear whether they should be asked to make it
public and declare the assets.
While the
Congress and the Left parties agreed that there was an 'urgency' to pass the
bill, they urged that the government should be stringent in imposing the
provisions of the bill. Opposition leaders including Mohammad Salim of CPM
objected to the introduction of the Bill saying that due parliamentary process
was not followed.
As per the
rules notified under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013, every public servant
shall file declaration, information and annual returns pertaining to his assets
and liabilities as well as for his spouse and dependent children on March 31
every year or on or before July 31 of that year. In April, the government had
extended the date of filing returns by public servants from April 15 to July
31. This is the fifth extension in the deadline since the Act came into force
in January 2014.
As per rules,
organisations receiving more than Rs1 crore in government grants and donations
above Rs10 lakh from abroad fall under the ambit of Lokpal.
Assets of
only 4 minister declared
Activists
apprehend that with these amendments in force, 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.
Prominent RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak maintains that currently the PMO website
displays the assets and liabilities declarations for only four Cabinet
Ministers and two ministers of state for the year 2015-16.
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