Bangalore: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said recently that show-cause notices have been served on All India Service and KAS officers for not submitting the annual property returns.

But, his own colleagues in the ministry have missed the date for mandatory submission of assets and liabilities to the Lokayukta.

Housing Minister M H Ambareesh, Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya, Textiles Minister Babu Rao Chinchansur, Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader and Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda are among 63 MLAs who have failed to submit the mandatory statement to the Lokayukta by June 30, Lokayukta sources told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

Submit details

According to the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, MLAs and MLCs have to submit details of assets and liabilities, including those of their family members, in a prescribed format. The statement will have to be submitted before June 30, the Act specifies.

Though legislators have two more months to submit the statement with explanation for late submission, a report has already been submitted in this regard to the Governor, sources said.

The Lokayukta office has submitted that 63 MLAs and 16 MLCs have not filed the statement this year. The report has also been sent to each legislator. If the statement is not received two months after the report is sent, names of such public servants will be published in newspapers. As many as 159 MLAs and 56 MLCs have submitted the statement till Wednesday.

Last year, only 79 MLAs had submitted statements by June 30. Even after the report was sent, 29 MLAs and three MLCs had failed to submit the details. The Lokayukta office had released their names to newspapers. Incidentally, Ambareesh was also among the MLAs who defaulted even after the report was sent. The legislators submitted the details when the Lokayukta cautioned that cases will be booked under Section 176 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Incorrect statements

Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde told Deccan Herald that the Lokayukta must make use of the provision in the IPC to take action against legislators who submit incorrect statements. “I had exercised Section 176 of IPC against legislators who failed to submit the details even two months after the report was sent.

A public servant who is bound to give an information at the time required by law can be booked for intentional omission to give the information. There is a purpose for mandatory submission of statement to the State ombudsman.

The Lokayukta office must scrutinise the statement and if some legislator is found to have filed incorrect or false information, he or she should be booked under Section 177 of IPC,” Justice Hegde said.