Thaindian News

Ranchi, April 5 (IANS) In corruption-ridden Jharkhand, none of the 12 ministers - not even Chief Minister Arjun Munda - have submitted details of their assets even though the March 31 deadline set by the assembly speaker has passed, sources say.

Speaker C.P. Singh had asked all legislators, including ministers, to declare their assets. The deadline has ended but hardly 20 percent of the legislators submitted the details and some requested for more time.

“It’s true that all legislators had to declare their assets by March 31, but the majority are yet to submit the details,” Singh told reporters Tuesday.

During the winter session of the assembly late last year, the opposition had demanded that Munda ensure declaration of assets of ministers and he had given an assurance that this would be done.

Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) legislator Vinod Singh and Congress legislator K. Tripathy were the first to do so.

According to sources in the assembly secretariat, some legislators have sought time till April 8 to declare their assets.

Each legislator was supposed to submit the details to the assembly secretariat and each minister to a cabinet panel.

But sources in the cabinet panel said not a single minister had submitted the details till Monday.

And this at a time when Jharkhand has seen scams aplenty. Former chief minister Madhu Koda and his three ex-cabinet colleagues - Kamlesh Singh, Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai - are still in jail for amassing assets beyond their known sources of income.