September 9,2017:

In many cases the financial assets go up by more than 500% in just five years.

Exponential rise in assets of the MPs and the MLAs during their tenure as the lawmakers has come under the judicial scrutiny with Supreme Court directing Centre to file a comprehensive report on what action or probe it has conducted against the 289 legislators, including some of the senior leaders.

MPs and the leaders who figure on list are from all the parties and in some cases assets have gone up by more than 500% during the tenure of five years.

Growth of the assets has been a controversial issue with some of the MPs pointing out that appreciation in the property values or business incomes can be a legitimate reason. But Supreme Court is keen on probing whether the big jumps in assets were accounted for by the legal income.

Apex Court bench comprising of Justice J Chelameswar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer stated that probe is needed to find source of income and whether the property amassed was through the legal means.

Court has reprimanded the Central Government for its reluctance in sharing the information and directed Government to file a report within a week.

A Representation was made to the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in June 2016 on the basis of a report prepared by Association of Democratic Reforms (NGO) which collected all the asset details of the politicians filed in 2009 and 2014 General and the State Elections but Centre's response was vague and evasive.

 

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