President Pratibha Patil declares assets of Rs 2.5 crore on official website

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Source :Money Life Digital team :July 25,2011 02:54 pm

The list of assets has been put up after the chief information officer, ruling on an RTI application, said that it would set a good example if the president declared her wealth and property...


Mrs Pratibha Patil, the President of India, owns assets totally valued at almost Rs2.5 crore, according to information put up on the president's official website. Mrs Patil has voluntarily put up a list of her wealth and property as of 31 March 2011. The information has been put up following a ruling by the chief information officer (CIC) in favour of an RTI activist who sought this information. 


On 21st July, in response to a query by Right to Information (RTI) activist Subhas Agrawal, the public information officer at the president's secretariat said that the list of assets had been put up on the president's website. The list mentions a house, a farmhouse, plots of agricultural land, market investments bank balance and other movable assets, totally worth about Rs2.5 crore. 


Going by the information, Ms Patil owns a lot less than Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha whose net worth is Rs51 crore and her predecessor M Karunanidhi who had declared net assets worth Rs41 crore. Both had declared these figures when filing nominations for the state elections in May. Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has listed assets that he owns and that of his wife to be worth Rs1.09 crore. Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram declared in 2009 that he and his wife have assets totally worth more than Rs20 crore.  


Mr Agrawal had asked for details of the wealth and assets owned bypresident and her family members in August last year. But the information was twice denied to him by the public information officer at the president's secretariat, saying the information was not available, and Mr Agrawal went in appeal. He was also told that there is not legal obligation for the president to publicly declare her wealth. 


During the hearing, the CIC said that the president's relatives are private individuals and hence, do not come under the ambit of the RTI Act. However, if the president voluntarily declares her assets, like otherministers and judges, it would set a good example. 


The CIC made this announcement on 15th June. "The president may set a good example in transparency which others could follow. The commission cannot pass any direction in this regard, as it does not come within the commission's powers as mandated under the RTI Act." Now, Ms Patil has given the information that has been put up on the official website. However, since this is not mandatory, it will have to be seen whether here successor follows her "good example". 


The disclosure of assets has been a bone of contention among administrators of the country. The Election Commissioner, Information Commissioner and Supreme Court judges have all disclosed their assets voluntarily. Vice-president Hamid Ansari has reportedly expressed a similar desire. However, many  Parliamentarians are opposed to the idea. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have refused to put such details of parliamentarians on the website, quoting rules. 


Mr Agrawal says, "Instead of such voluntary disclosures, it should be made a rule for all members of the legislature, the judiciary and the bureaucracy (at least of the level of under secretary and above) to declare details of their assets and wealth on the respective websites of public authorities"

Voluntary disclosures have sometimes also produced surprises. The Supreme Court's only woman judge Gyan Sudha Mishra shocked the country by listing her two daughters as 'liabilities'. People were outraged when Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati declared assets worth Rs86 crore, which was described as just the tip of the iceberg, given here penchant for garlands of cash, diamond jewellery and now allegations of land hoarding. 

The most hilarious declaration was made by former chief minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee prior to the state elections; he stated that he had no house, no car, no bank balance and only Rs5,000 cash in hand, whereas his wife was worth Rs46 lakh. This is some progress for Mr Bhattacharjee, since 2006, when he declared that he had no cash in hand.