-The Indian Express
The assets were posted on the CM office web site Friday night.
Patnaik was followed by Doon School mate AU Singh Deo, who had properties worth Rs 4.8 crore. Urban Development Minister Sarda Prasad Nayak had total assets worth Rs 12.18 lakh — the lowest of them all. Of the 21 ministers, 13 were found to have properties above Rs 1 crore.
Patnaik’s movable properties worth Rs 1,086,769 included a 1980 model Ambassador worth Rs 20,000. His immovable properties are worth Rs 11.88 crore. He inherited 22.7 acre farm land valued at Rs 34,334,000 in Haryana from his mother Gyan Patnaik. He also inherited one-third of the share from property from his parents house at Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi, worth Rs 5.14 crore.
Incidentally, many ministers failed to sign a declaration that the particulars disclosed were true to the best of their knowledge. Unless the declaration is signed, the statements are not binding on them and they can easily backtrack if necessary by claiming that the information was not verified by them.
“As one more step towards transparency, the assets and liabilities of the council of ministers of Orissa have been hosted in the state government website,” a senior official at the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The property list was released before the municipality polls on November 15, by-election to Umerkote assembly segment on November 30 and panchayat polls scheduled early next year.
The ministers had submitted their property lists with the Chief Minister in August, sources said.
However, Transparency International India Board member Biswajit Mohanty alleged that not a single disclosure has been made of the ministers’ assets and liabilities for the previous financial year. “It is meaningless to limit the disclosures to 2010-11 only, since there is no way to compare the increase in assets unless we have the previous year figures,” he wrote in a letter to the Chief Minister.