Disproportionate assets is a term used in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to describe a situation where an individual's net economic assets significantly exceed the assets he or she should possess after accounting for the assets that he or she previously held and all legal sources of income. Disproportionate assets cases are investigated by the CBI

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

and the

Income Tax Department The Income Tax Department (also referred to as IT Department or ITD) is a government agency undertaking direct tax collection of the government of India. It functions under the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance. The Income Tax De ...

. The concept is extensively used to initiate

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

investigations against public servants and elected politicians in India, and has been codified in several pieces of national- and state-level legislation, including the

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (No. 49 of 1988) is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to combat corruption in government agencies and public sector businesses in India. Provisions The act consists of 5 chapters spread across ...

. On 29 September 2014,

J Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...

, was convicted of disproportionate assets and was sentenced to jail for four years.Disproportionate Assets: What constitutes the offence?''
''Andhra Pradesh Vigilance Commission, Government of Andhra Pradesh State, India''. Accessed 2008-10-29. ''"... A Public Servant is said to commit the offence of Criminal Misconduct (of possession of disproportionate assets), “if he or any person on his behalf, is in possession or has, at any time during the period of his office, been in possession for which the public servant cannot satisfactorily account, of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his known sources of income”, as laid down under clause (e) of sub-sec.(1) of sec.13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. ..."'' This made Jayalalithaa the first sitting chief minister in India to be removed from office due to corruption charges. She was later acquitted on 11 May 2015 by the

Karnataka High Court Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. On 14 February 2017, the Supreme Court of India over-ruled the Karnataka High Court. Sasikala and the other accused were convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, as well as being fined ₹10 crore (equivalent to ₹11 crore or US$1.6 million in 2019) each. The case against Jayalalithaa was abated because she had died but fines were levied on her properties.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20170227235209/http://nyaaya.in/law/84/the-prevention-of-corruption-act-1988/ Law of India Corruption in India Political corruption in India {{india-law-stub