140 Rajya Sabha MPs declare they have no pecuniary interest

The Register of Interest contains information about financial and business interests of MPs to ascertain conflict of interest. Vicky Nanjappa reports.

An RTI application seeking information from the register of interest of Rajya Sabha MPs has revealed that out of 232 Rajya Sabha MPs, 140 MPs have declared that they have no pecuniary interest/financial interest in any of the mentioned heads. However, 92 MPs have declared that they have financial interest under the mentioned heads in declaration

The Register of Interest contains crucial information about financial and business interests of the MPs and is a critical document to ascertain conflict of interest.

The RTI application was filed by the Association of Democratic Reforms.

Rajya Sabha MPs have to declare their pecuniary interest under Rule 293 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States. Although the rules specifically allow this information to be given out to general public, the Rajya Sabha secretariat has been denying this information as it has been asked by the ethics committee to not disclose the information.

The Central Information Commission had to finally issue a non-compliance notice to Central Public Information Officer on Oct 3, following which the information was given to the appellant.

Although the register of interest came into being as a result of the recommendations of the second report of Ethics Committee of the Rajya Sabha of Dec, 1999, and enforced through the adoption of fourth report of the Ethics committee in May 2005, this is the first time these details are being made public.

Overview:

The information received consists of pecuniary details of 232 MPs out of 242 MPs. As per the RS secretariat, 10 MPs have not completed their due date of submission of declarations, which is within ninety days from the date on which he/she makes and subscribes oath or affirmation for taking his/her seat.

Out of these 232 MPs, only 92 have given various pecuniary details. A total of 140 MPs have just put n/a or nil across all the fields of the form.

A register containing information about MPs pecuniary (financial) interest mandated for all Rajya Sabha MPs by Ethics Committee in 2005.

The issues of having private financial interests which come in conflict with the public interest should come out in the public domain. Issue of conflict of interest can be comprehensively addressed with this information.

Remunerative Directorship

28 MPs have declared that they have some financial interest in the form of Remunerative Directorship of a company and 204 MPs have declared that they have no financial interest under this head.

The highest amount received from Remunerative Directorship has been declared by Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(Rs 39.45 crore) followed by Naresh Gujral (SAD,Punjab)(Rs 4.54 crore) and Vijay Darda(INC,Maharashtra)(Rs 4.54 crore).

The maximum number of directorships have been declared by Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(19) followed by Y P Trivedi (NCP, Maharashtra)(11) and Naresh Gujral (SAD,Punjab)(4).

Shareholding of controlling nature

33 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of shareholding of controlling nature and 199 MPs have declared that they have no financial interest under this head.

The highest number of shareholdings in companies have been declared by Anil Lad (INC,Karnataka)(27 companies) followed by Vijay Darda (INC, Maharashtra)(21 companies) and Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(12 companies).

Regular Remunerated Activity

28 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of Regular Remunerated Activity and 204
MPs have no declared financial interest under this head.

The highest amount received from Regular Remunerated Activity has been declared by Shobhana Bhartia (Nominated)(Rs 2.67 crore) followed by Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(Rs 1.85 crore) and Satyanarayana Chowdry (TDP, AP)(Rs 1.68 crore).

Paid Consultancy

7 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of paid consultancy and 224 MPs have no declared financial interest under this head.

The highest amount received from paid consultancy has been declared by Parimal Nathwani (Rs 1.29 crore) followed by Amar Singh (Rs 54 lac) and Ravi Shankar Prasad (Rs 37.73 lac).

Professional Engagement

43 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of paid consultancy and 189 MPs have no
declared financial interest under this head.

The highest amount received from Professional Engagements has been declared by Abhishek Manu Singhvi (INC,Rajasthan)(Rs 50 crore) followed by Arun Jaitley (BJP,Gujarat) (Rs 10 crore) and Ram Jethmalani (BJP,Rajasthan)(Rs 8.41 crore).

MPs with high assets and no declaration of pecuniary interest

A total of 140 MPs out of the total 232 MPs have declared that they have no pecuniary interest.

The top 3 MPs who have high assets with no declaration of pecuniary interest are Subbarami Reddy (INC,AP)(Rs 258.25 crore) followed by Karan Singh (INC,Delhi)(Rs 57.89 crore) and Rajkumar Dhoot (SS,Maharashtra)(Rs 29.53 crore).