President Pratibha Patil to declare her assets soon

New Delhi: Breaking new ground, President Pratibha Patil has decided to declare her assets soon.

This is the first time that the President of the country will be making assets public although there is no law that mandates her to do it.

The decision comes close on the heels of a suggestion from the Central Information Commission that it was for the President of India to take a call on placing her and her family's property details in public domain.

"The President of India is not required to declare his/her assets to any public authority. However, President Patil will declare it," PTI quoted Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Archana Dutta as saying June 18.

She declined to comment on whether Patil's family members would also be declaring their assets and said she was authorised to speak only on behalf of the President.

Earlier, an RTI activists on June 17 had urged the president to release the details of her and her family members' assets in the public domain as it would set a precedent for the parliamentarians.

"As a head of state and parliament, the president of India should take the initiative of putting her property details on the website, which would set a precedent for our parliamentarians who have declined to do so," Subhash Agrawal told IANS.

"In the era of transparency, the president should voluntarily put the details of her property in public domain," said Agrawal.

His comments came after Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said that under the RTI Act, he had no power to ask the president to make public the details of the assets owned by her and her family members.

Agrawal had filed a petition seeking the details of the assets owned by the president and her family members and steps taken to place them on the website. 

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