President Patil declares assets worth Rs.2.5 crore

New Delhi: A farmhouse and gold jewellery worth Rs.31 lakh are listed among Rs.2.5 crore worth of assets of President Pratibha Patil, the first Indian head of state to make the information public.

After a Right To Information (RTI) query, Patil -- the country's first woman president -- gave a detailed statement of the immovable and movable assets she held till March 31 this year.

Any common citizen can access the information on presidentofindia.nic.in/assets.html. It was uploaded July 15, official sources say.

The list of assets put up on the president's website mentions a house, a farmhouse in Amravati, Maharashtra, and agricultural plots.

In movable assets, she has listed market investments and her bank balance.

She has 1,750 gm of gold jewellery worth Rs.3,106,250 and 1,350 gm of silver articles and utensils worth Rs.69,134.

The president's decision comes after an RTI query filed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal, an RTI activist, seeking details of assets owned by the president and her family members and steps taken to place them on the website.

The Chief Information Commission (CIC) said: "The Commission cannot pass any direction in this regard, as it (president's office) does not come within the Commission's powers as mandated under the RTI Act."

But the president's secretariat, in reply to Agrawal's RTI plea, said: "Yes, the details of wealth and assets of president of India have (been) made public by putting it on the website."

Agrawal hailed the president for doing so.

"The president voluntarily putting the details of her property in public domain is welcome. Hope this will be followed by others too," Agrawal told IANS.

When Agrawal asked if the practice of declaring assets online would be followed by other presidents too, Patil's secretariat replied: "It is for the next president to decide."

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