Only 8 of 100 corporators declare assets

BANGALORE: Only eight of the 100 Bangalore corporators have been declaring their assets and liabilities every year since 2001 and 38 corporators haven''t bothered to file even once in the last three years despite the declarations being mandatory.
This, notwithstanding a severe penalty clause that can have the erring corporators thrown out of the BCC Council.
In year 2001, 57 corporators had declared their assets and liabilities and the next year, the figure dwindled to 26. In 2003, only 15 have done so. And this year, only 13 corporators are looking up their books.
According to the declaration list, a copy of which is obtained by The Times of India, no less than mayor R. Narayanaswamy has not declared his assets since 2002. Former Mayor P.R. Ramesh has declared till 2003; his predecessors, K. Chandrashekar and C.M. Nagaraj, have filed their declarations till 2002.
BCC officials said though the law lays down that the declarations should be made by December every year, 38 high-profile corporators, who had headed BCC standing committees, have not come up with their lists.
Section 19 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act states: "Every corporator shall, not later than one month after the commencement of his term of office and in the same month of each succeeding year, file with the mayor a declaration of all assets owned by him/her and members of his family. Such declaration shall form part of the corporation records.
"If any corporator fails to file the same, or files false declarations, he/she shall cease to be a corporator. Any question whether disqualification has to be decided, on reference made by the corporation, the government decision will be final."
Officials explained: "Every year, the corporators have to be goaded into declaring their assets and liabilities. Only a handful turn up. Even mayors aren''t up to date."
The corporators take law lightly and, at the end of the five-year tenure, hurry through the submission of declarations of the previous years in one bunch.
Unlike in the case of legislators, the government does not seem to have viewed seriously the corporators'' callousness. For instance, the legislators submit their declarations to the Lok Ayukta every year, who, in turn, forwards the defaulters'' names to the governor. After a deadline, the governor is authorised to publish the defaulters'' list in three newspapers.