Section 75A: Declaration of Assets and Liabilities - Representation of the People Act, 1951

Section 75A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires an elected Member of Parliament to submit a declaration of specified assets and liabilities within 90 days of taking the constitutional oath or affirmation. The duty applies to elected candidates for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

At a glance: Deadline: 90 days from oath or affirmation; recipient: Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, as applicable; information: property held by the member, spouse and dependant children, and the member's specified financial and government liabilities.

Who must file and when?

Under section 75A(1), an elected candidate for either House of Parliament must file within ninety days from making and subscribing the oath or affirmation prescribed in the Third Schedule to the Constitution for taking a seat. The time limit is linked to the oath or affirmation, not simply to the polling date or declaration of the election result.

What must be declared?

  • Property: movable and immovable property jointly or separately owned or beneficially held by the member, the member's spouse and dependant children.
  • Financial liabilities: the member's liabilities to a public financial institution, including the banks covered by the statutory explanation.
  • Government liabilities: the member's liabilities to the Central Government or a State Government.

The statute expressly refers to family members' property but describes the specified liabilities as his liabilities (the elected member's liabilities). The declaration must follow the form and procedure prescribed by the respective House's rules.

Filing procedure and rule-making authority

Under sections 75A(2) and (3), the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People may prescribe the declaration form and filing procedure. Under section 75A(4), such rules must be laid before the relevant House for a total of thirty days, subject to approval, modification or disapproval as specified in that subsection.

Under section 75A(5), the Chairman or Speaker may direct that a wilful contravention of the rules be dealt with in the same manner as a breach of privilege of the relevant House. This provision should not be confused with separate candidate affidavit requirements at the nomination stage.

Definitions used in section 75A

The statutory explanation defines immovable property to include land and attached buildings or structures; movable property as property other than immovable property, including tangible and intangible property; and dependant children as sons and daughters with no separate means of earning who depend wholly on the member for livelihood. It also defines public financial institution by reference to section 4A of the Companies Act, 1956 and includes specified classes of banks. The statutory cross-references should be read as enacted, with attention to subsequent changes in the laws governing institutions.

Section 75A - statutory provisions

The following reproduces the substantive provisions and explanation retained from the original article for reference.

(1) Every elected candidate for a House of Parliament shall, within ninety days from the date on which he makes and subscribes an oath or affirmation, according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule to the Constitution, for taking his seat in either House of Parliament, furnish the information, relating to-

(i) the movable and immovable property of which he, his spouse and his dependant children are jointly or severally owners or beneficiaries;

(ii) his liabilities to any public financial institution; and

(iii) his liabilities to the Central Government or the State Government,

to the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, as the case may be.

(2) The information under sub-section (1) shall be furnished in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed in the rules made under sub-section (3).

(3) The Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, as the case may be, may make rules for the purposes of sub-section (2).

(4) The rules made by the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, under sub-section (3) shall be laid, as soon as may be after they are made, before the Council of States or the House of the People, as the case may be, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions and shall take effect upon the expiry of the said period of thirty days unless they are sooner approved with or without modifications or disapproved by the Council of States or the House of the People and where they are so approved, they shall take effect on such approval in the form in which they were laid or in such modified form, as the case may be, and where they are so disapproved, they shall be of no effect.

(5) The Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, as the case may be, may direct that any willful contravention of the rules made under sub-section (3) by an elected candidate for a House of Parliament referred to in sub-section (1) may be dealt with in the same manner as a breach of privilege of the Council of States or the House of the People, as the case may be.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section,-

(i) "immovable property" means the land and includes any building or other structure attached to the land or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the land;

(ii) "movable property" means any other property which is not the immovable property and includes corporeal and incorporeal property of every description;

(iii) "public financial institution" means a public financial institution within the meaning of section 4A of the Companies Act, 1956 (1of 1956), and includes bank;

(iv) "bank" referred to in clause (iii) means-

(a) State Bank of India constituted under section 3 of the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955);

(b) subsidiary bank having the meaning assigned to it in clause (k) of section 2 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959);

(c) Regional Rural Bank established under section 3 of the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 (21 of 1976);

(d) corresponding new bank having the meaning assigned to it in clause (da) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949); and

(e) co-operative bank having the meaning assigned to it in clause (cci) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) as modified by sub-clause (i) of clause (c) of section 56 of that Act; and

(v) "dependant children" means sons and daughters who have no separate means of earning and are wholly dependant on the elected candidate referred to in sub-section (1) for their livelihood.

Practical compliance points

  1. Record the date on which the oath or affirmation was made and subscribed.
  2. Identify the prescribed form and current filing directions issued by the relevant House's secretariat.
  3. Compile ownership and beneficiary details for the member, spouse and dependant children and the specified liabilities.
  4. Submit within the ninety-day statutory period and retain proof of filing.

Official statutory and institutional sources

This article explains section 75A as distinct from disclosures required of candidates when filing nomination papers. For filing, refer to the rules and instructions of the relevant House.