RTI activist seeks BJP MP’s disqualification

According to a 2015 notice issued to Satyapal Singh by the collector, Singh had failed to pay Rs48,420 as penalty for renting the flat out

Former police commissioner and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Satyapal Singh may be in a spot of bother. A city activist has written to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner, asking for Singh to be stripped of his membership.

According to Anil Galgali, a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by him revealed that Singh had failed to disclose that he owed the collector of Mumbai a penalty levied on him for not paying licence fees and renting out a flat in Andheri’s Patliputra Society that is built on government-allotted land.

Singh did so without taking permission from the collector, which was mandatory, as per a 2001 revenue department circular, making the fee and the permission from the Collector mandatory before renting out a property, Galgali alleged. As a result, the collector sent Singh a notice in January 2013, asking him to pay a penalty for allowing the flat to be occupied without the nod from 2003 .

According to a 2015 notice issued to Singh by the collector, Singh had failed to pay Rs48,420 as penalty for renting the flat out. In January 2013, the collector had issued a similar notice to Singh, asking him to pay up, said Galgali.

Galgali found out that Singh had not paid the dues even when he fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Baghpat constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The Supreme Court had, in May 2002, made it mandatory for all candidates to declare, among other things like assets and liabilities, if the candidate was yet to clear any dues that he or she owed to government or public financial institutions. According to Singh’s affidavit, he did not owe any money. “He neither cleared government dues nor did he disclose that he owed money,” said Galgali.