SC to examine issue of lawmakers' stakes in firms doing business with government

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will examine whether a lawmaker could have stakes in an entity that has business transactions with the government.

Telling the petitioner, retired bureaucrat S.N.Shukla, that the issue needs to examined, the bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Mahohar Sapre said: "You know how many people have contracts in the government. This is something which we should be worried about."

Shukla is general secretary of Lucknow-based NGO Lok Prahari.

In an apparent reference to beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the bench said: "People borrow crores of rupees, become MPs and then fly away when things go wrong."

The court said this in the course of the hearing of a PIL that is seeking introduction of a column in the nomination papers filed by the candidates seeking details of the sources of income on the basis of which they have come to possess their assets.

Shukla told the court that candidates while filing their nomination papers were disclosing their assets, assets of their spouse, children and other dependents but not the sources of income by which they have come to possess them.

To buttress his point that some of the law makers were thriving on easy money, Shukla said of the 542 Lok Sabha members, 113 have described their profession as housewife, social workers, social service and politics.

These can't be and should not be sources of getting money but in the case of 12 of then their assets haver increased more than fivefold, Shukla told the court. He said that for such category of law makers, membership of legislatures is in not for public service but self-service.

Telling the petitioner that merely adding another column would not serve the purpose without examining the core of the issue, the bench asked Shukla to dwell on the issue and give suggestions on the next date of hearing on July 18.

--IANS

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