The Hindu 01.10.2009
Chennai Corporation councillors declare assets
Shyam Ranganathan
CHENNAI: Awareness created by the Right to Information Act has helped the Chennai Corporation with many of its councillors declaring their assets, according to officials of the civic body.
According to the Madras City Municipal Corporation (Disclosure of Assets) Rules, 1973, all councillors should disclose details of their assets by March 31 every year. But, only 25 of 155 councillors had declared their assets for 2006-07 and 2007-08 until January this year. The Mayor, M. Subramanian, then asked all the councillors to immediately provide details of their assets to the Corporation Council Secretary.
In reply to an RTI petition on the progress made following this order, the civic body said 96 of the 155 councillors declared the details. “Every day, one or two councillors provide details. They know to give exact details as they may serve as evidence at a future date,” a senior official said.
On making these details public, the official said it would require the Corporation Commissioner’s permission. “We have a sent a note to clarify if these records can be made public. Depending on the Commissioner’s decision, action will be taken,” the official said.
