Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal (file photo)The issue of conflict of interest is back in spotlight as ministers continue to run businesses after they take oath of office.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court is considering a Public Interest Litigation which poses the query on whether there is conflict of interest if a CM or a minister continues to run a business after taking oath of office.
As per the PIL, the conflict of interest angle revolves around the ownership of a group of companies including Dabwali Transport and Orbit Aviation owned by the Badals -- Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sukhbir's wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The companies, 90 per cent owned by the Badal family, were established after Badal took office as CM eight years ago.
These firms have bagged a huge chunk of transport permits of the Punjab government. Taking cognizance of the PIL, the HC has sought the chief secretary's remark's on whether there is conflict of interest if the CM owns transport business. Licences earlier owned by the state-run road transport corporation are now with Dabwali Transport. The HC has not issued any notice to the Badals.
The case comes up for detailed hearing in October.
The Punjab Government as well as the Centre have not so far framed guidelines on whether CM or ministers can run businesses.
Conflict of interest?
Mahesh sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, is also embroiled in a controversy as he runs a chain of hospitals in the National Capital Region. Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries G.M.Siddeswara runs a sugar mill and his family's arecanut business in Karnataka.
Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has officially given up his shares in Nagpur-based Purti group of companies, but the group is run by his close family members.
The Constitution does not address the issue of conflict of interest, leaving it to the wisdom of the President and Governor, who appoint PM and CMs, respectively. Regarding ministers, it is the sole prerogative of PM and CMs, with the only requisite qualification being that they should be a Member of Parliament or Legislature, as is the case may be.
Even though there are no legal provisions, Opposition parties always raise the conflict of interest issue.
However, there are restrictions in place for some professionals. Lawyers, who have been appointed as ministers cannot take up cases in court. Senior lawyers including P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal have had their licences suspended during the period in which they were ministers. Same is the case with Arun Jaitley. However, there is no such curbs for doctors, chartered accountants or journalists.
Ethics panel
Interestingly, both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha have ethics committees, which are supposed to consider and report on unethical conduct of members. But these panels have not yet dwelt into the question of conflict of interest involving MPs. Recently, there was a controversy when two BJP MPs, who are also tobacco barons, opposed the proposals that mooted stringent curbs to discourage tobacco consumption. Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya, who owns an airline, participated as a member of the Standing Committee on Civil Aviation, which made recommendations on policies governing private airlines.
The Congress, BJP as well as a majority of regional parties have shied away from erecting firm barriers between business interests and political activity, unlike in the US, where members of Congress are under strict scrutiny if they lobby for their businesses.
The response of the Punjab Chief Secretary is another interesting dimension as the government's reply, which he is to submit to the HC, has to be cleared by the Chief Minister and the Deputy CM.
Tailpiece: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's munificence for Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is talking to different ministries to shell out a package for development of his Lok Sabha constituency, Lucknow, which was earlier represented by Atal Behari Vajpayee.
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