Register of Interest (business/financial) of Rajya Sabha MPs finally disclosed

Rajya Sabha secretariat has finally made the register of interest of the Rajya Sabha MPs available to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on its RTI application. Although the CIC in its order of Jun 3rd, 2011 directed the CPIO of RS to make these available within 10 days, CPIO had informed the applicant that the decision of CIC was still under consideration of Ethics committee. CIC had finally issued a compliance notice to CPIO on Oct 3.

The information received consists of pecuniary details of 232 MPs out of 242 MPs. The members have to declare this information under Rule 293 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States.

Report on the analysis of Register of Interest of Rajya Sabha members (containing crucial business and financial interests).(PDF)
Report on the analysis of Register of Interest of 14 Rajya Sabha MPs who are ministers.(PDF)
Digitized and scan copies of the original form of Register of Members' Interst of Rajya Sabha MPs are available at http://myneta.info/InterestbyRajyasabhaMember/.

The main highlights of the report are given below:

• Based on the declarations of Register of Member's Interest made by 232 MPs of Rajya Sabha, 140 MPs have declared on the form that they have no pecuniary interest/financial interest whatsoever in any of the mentioned heads and 92 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the mentioned heads.
• Remunerative Directorship
• 28 MPs have declared that they have some financial interest in the form of Remunerative Directorship of a company and 204 MPs have declared that they have no financial interest under this head.
• The highest amount received from Remunerative Directorship has been declared by Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(Rs 39.45 crore) followed by Naresh Gujral (SAD,Punjab)(Rs. 4.54 crore) and Vijay Darda (INC,Maharashtra)(Rs. 4.54 crore).
• The maximum number of directorships have been declared by Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(19) followed by Y.P. Trivedi (NCP, Maharashtra)(11) and Naresh Gujral (SAD,Punjab)(4).
• Shareholding of controlling nature
• 33 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of Shareholding of controlling nature and 199 MPs have declared that they have no financial interest under this head.
• The highest number of shareholdings in companies have been declared by Anil Lad (INC,Karnataka)(27 companies) followed by Vijay Darda (INC, Maharashtra)(21 companies) and Vijay Mallya (IND, Karnataka)(12 companies).
• Regular Remunerated Activity
• 28 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of Regular Remunerated Activity and 204 MPs have no declared financial interest under this head.
• The highest amount received from Regular Remunerated Activity has been declared by Shobhana Bhartia (Nominated)(Rs 2.67 crore) followed by Vijay Mallya (IND,Karnataka)(Rs 1.85 crore) and Satyanarayana Chowdry (TDP, AP)(Rs 1.68 crore).
• Paid Consultancy
• 7 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of Paid Consultancy and 224 MPs have no declared financial interest under this head.
• The highest amount received from Paid Consultancy has been declared by Parimal Nathwani (Rs 1.29 crore) followed by Amar Singh (Rs 54 lac) and Ravi Shankar Prasad (Rs 37.73 lac).
• Professional Engagement
• 43 MPs have declared that they have financial interest in the form of Paid Consultancy and 189 MPs have no declared financial interest under this head.
• The highest amount received from Professional Engagements has been declared by Abhishek Manu Singhvi (INC, Rajasthan) (Rs 50 crore) followed by Arun Jaitley (BJP,Gujarat) (Rs 10 crore) and Ram Jethmalani (BJP,Rajasthan)(Rs 8.41 crore).
• MPs with high assets and no declaration of pecuniary interest
• A total of 140 MPs out of the total 232 MPs have declared that they have no pecuniary interest.
• The top 3 MPs who have high assets with no declaration of pecuniary interest are Subbarami Reddy (INC,AP)(Rs 258.25 crore) followed by Karan Singh (INC,Delhi)(Rs 57.89 crore) and Rajkumar Dhoot (SS,Maharashtra)(Rs 29.53 crore).
• ADR demands the following steps should be taken
• Details of spouse and dependent should also be disclosed in the form.
• There should be a thorough scrutiny of the declarations of the pecuniary interest.
• Issue of conflict of interest must be addressed comprehensively in terms of ministry/panel/committee that the MPs are part of and related financial interests.