Mallya in govt panel on fertilisers despite being chairman of MCFL

In what can be called “a perfect example of conflict of interest”, Chairman of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (MCFL) Vijay Mallya has been a member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers, in the capacity of a member of the Rajya Sabha since August 31, 2012.

Parliamentary experts said that this is a clear example of conflict of interest "unless the Doctrine of Necessity is in play", said former Chief Justice of India Justice VN Khare. Hence, it “can be an example of conflicting interest,” Khare added.

The Vijay Mallya-promoted UB Group owns over 30 percent stake in MCFL. An email sent to Mallya for his response went unanswered.

Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo, who headed a Committee to Inquire into misconduct of members of Lok Sabha on ‘various facets of misconduct and basic attributes of standards of conduct/behavior expected of members’ in 2008 said that “there is no doubt that it is a conflict of interest.”

The report that he submitted, at one place referring to conflict of interest, reads, “The Committee are of the view that a provision may be made to the effect that if a member has a personal, pecuniary or direct interest on any subject/ matter, he should not be nominated in the first place to the Departmentally Related Standing Committee, which normally examines such subjects/matters.”

The Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha in its First Report submitted on 1.12.1998 has listed 14 points that serve as framework for code of conduct for members. “Apart from this, misconduct could include actions that lead to advancing private interest of self or others based on information received in course of parliamentary duty and responsibility,” said Lok Sabha MP Nakul Das Rai to the above mentioned committee in response to a question on definition of misconduct of MPs.

According to parliamentary experts, the members are ideally to be nominated to the committees by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. However, the procedure generally followed includes political parties recommending names of members. Also, any member should declare her/his interests as and when needed, officials close to the functioning of Parliamentary Standing Committees said.

According to Vinod Bhanu, executive director of the Centre for Legislative research and Advocacy, this has remained a non-addressed issue. “The disclosure mechanism in India is not very strict. Not much scrutiny is done,” he said.

He added that registering their interests should be made mandatory for MPs of both the houses and the ethics committee should scrutinize the details against their parliamentary work.

Meanwhile, Mallya has not attended any meeting of the committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers till date, according to the information available on the Lok Sabha website.