As if declaring their assets before the Election Commission prior to contesting parliamentary elections wasn’t enough for the politicians, Union ministers now have something more to contend with. They have been directed to give details of their annual assets and liabilities to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The directive has come from Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar who has written to all Union ministers asking them to submit their “annual accounts of assets and liabilities” to the PM.
The Cabinet secretary’s missive to Union ministers has drawn attention to the Union home ministry’s Code of Conduct wherein ministers are required to submit details of their assets and liabilities.
Under the code of conduct, “A person immediately after entering office as a minister, and in any case within a period of two months from the date of assumption of office, shall disclose to the Prime Minister, or the chief minister, as the case may be, details of the assets and liabilities, and of business interests, of himself and of members of his family...”
***
Shah in SC to recall CBI probe
Deepal Trivedi
Ahmedabad
Gujarat’s former minister of state for home and chief minister Narendra Modi’s key aide Amit Shah, at present in jail as a key accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, has filed a petition in the top court, seeking recall of the CBI probe in the case. In his petition, Mr Shah has alleged that the CBI should not probe the case because it is being “directed” by the Central government to implicate the leaders of the BJP-ruled state.
He has also raised a number of objections on the court order which handed over the probe to the Central agency while indicting the Gujarat police for shoddy investigation.