Names of parties, leaders who haven’t filed asset reports to Lok Ayukta to be published in media

Political parties and their hundreds of office-bearers in Kerala, who have failed to file their asset and liability statements with the Lok Ayukta, face the ignominy of their names being published in the media.

Section 22 of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act 1999 mandates that every public servant, other than a government servant, and their family members file a statement of assets and liabilities every two years. The family members include spouse and children, and dependent parents. The deadline for filing the statement for the previous two-year period had expired in June 2024.

Political parties used to file the statements since the enactment of the Lok Ayukta Act in 1999. However, they discontinued the practice after the 2024 amendments to the Act, believing that they were excluded from filing the statements. The 2024 amendment excluded political parties from the purview of the Lok Ayukta investigation on allegations of corruption and maladministration. However, they continue to be covered by the definition of public servant under the Act and have to file statements accordingly, sources point out.

Section 22 (2) of the Act notes that the competent authority shall make a report on the defaulters to the Lok Ayukta or the Upa Lok Ayukta, and send a copy of the report to the public servant concerned, asking them to file the statement within two months. The Registrar of the anti-corruption body is the competent authority in this case. If the statement is not filed within the deadline, the names of such public servants will be published in three newspapers with wide circulation in the State, as stipulated in the Act, indicated Lok Ayukta sources.

Communist Party of India State secretary Binoy Viswam is the only leader in the State to have complied with the provisions of the law. No political party in the State has filed the statement even six months after the deadline.

The anti-corruption body is understood to have started compiling the list of defaulters in the State.

The public servants defined under the Act include MLAs, civic representatives, presidents, secretaries, treasurers or any other office-bearer of trade unions, chairpersons, managers and secretaries of private schools, colleges, engineering colleges, and polytechnics, among others. The chairperson, vice-chairperson, president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer or any other office-bearer of a political party at the district or State level also come under the definition of public servant and hence have to file the statement before the competent authority, point out sources.

The intention of the legislation is to make every political party leader accountable to the public. The failure of a public servant to file the mandatory forms would bring ignominy on them to hold a public office, sources indicate.