CII members may have to disclose their assets

THE LAW WAS ENACTED IN 2013 FOR A LOKPAL TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES

Leading industrialists who serve on boards of institutions and trade bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) might have to make their assets and liabilities public under the Lokpal law.

Last month, senior functionaries of not-for-profit bodies receiving foreign funds of `10 lakh or an annual income of `1 crore – if part of the income is from the public – were put on par with civil servants under the Lokpal law.

This requires the functionaries to declare their assets and liabilities including their bank balance, investment portfolio and jewellery to the government before July 31. The government will have one month to make the information public.

Industrialists and trade bodies would not be spared either.

A CII statement – that asked the government to revisit the law – said “trade bodies which provide services for the competitiveness of industry” too were covered under the law.

CII president Naushad Forbes told HT that there was ambiguity about CII being covered.

“When we checked up with senior government officials, it turned out there was no clarity on this issue in the government either. We were told that they will need to examine it,” he said.

“If it turns out that CII is covered, then we have a serious issue,” he said, pointing that the government needed to remember if this was the objective of the Lokpal law.

The law was enacted in 2013 to provide for a Lokpal or national ombudsman to investigate corruption charges against public functionaries. It was not meant to cover the voluntary sector.

Rajesh Tandon, founder president of Pria, said the change was made to get back at Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia who led the protests to press for setting up the Lokpal. Both of them ran NGOs that received foreign funds before they formed the Aam Aadmi Party.