Three erring MLAs might spend a month behind bars for not declaring their assets to Lokayukta on time
Three erring MLAs might spend a month behind bars for not declaring their assets to Lokayukta on time
Three legislators who are yet to comply with the Lokayukta directive to declare their assets would now want to hurry up.
Satish Reddy an MLA from Bommannahalli, Varthur Prakash from Kolar and Mahesh S R from K R Nagar have been found to have defaulted and are liable to face criminal proceedings, according to the Lokayukta.
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Judge Dredd: Justice Hegde says those MLAs who filed assets late must face action |
"They must be serious in these issues, if they don't care for deadlines, it only says they don't respect the system," said Justice N Santhosh Hegde.
"We have issued notices to initiate criminal procedures against them, if they don't reply within a week's time they would be prosecuted," he said.
The rules demand that legislators file annual declarations by January under Section 22 (1) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984.
If they fail to comply, they can be prosecuted under Section 176 of IPC and might get a jail term of one month if the reply is not satisfactory and the court decides against their stand.
Rush hour
An apparently panicky Mahesh has filed the declaration, hurriedly, on Monday, after receiving the notice. "I should have filed it earlier, but anyway I have done it now and I have acknowledgement with me," said Mahesh.
However, it looks like that will not be enough for Mahesh to escape punitive action, as he's still liable to face proceedings for the delay in the 'mandatory' declaration of assets. Satish Reddy said he could not file the papers because he was out of station and he would do it in a couple of days. "My father was not well, I had to go visit him. My lawyers are preparing the papers and you will get know about my assets very shortly," Satish said.
Varthur Prakash was not available for his comments.
Talking tough
Lokayukta is getting tougher on MLAs, who don't care for the law of land. The Lokayukta sleuths recently arrested Sampangi, an MLA representing KGF, when he was caught accepting a bribe at a legislators' house recently. The Lokayukta got the sanction from the speaker to prosecute Sampangi in no time and went ahead with the legalities.
"We even extended the deadline to 31 March and then to 31 June, when the assets weren't declared. If they fail to declare even now, action must be taken," said Justice Hegde.
When asked about Mahesh, the Justice said, "He is late by six months and four days and the late submission is not an excuse."
