KOCHI: Shashi Tharoor MP has submitted before the Kerala High Court that the allegation that he had omitted details of his assets and those inherited from his late wife Sunanda Pushkar in his nomination paper is false.
According to Tharoor, the provisions of Section-15 and 16 of the Hindu Succession Act governing the devolution of property of a female Hindu dying intestate were not applicable to Sunanda as she was neither a citizen of India nor a person who was governed by the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act at the time of her death. He stated that he did not inherit or acquire any asset or immovable property either solely, or jointly with Sunanda’s son.
Tharoor pointed out that he had declared his assets as a Minister of State in the Union Cabinet, which were valued as on March 2013, where he had separately declared his assets as well as that of Sunanda.
“The declaration is available in the public domain. All of Sunanda’s assets, which were declared, were acquired or earned by her prior to her marriage, and there was absolutely no property which was owned or held jointly by both of them during her lifetime, or thereafter. Sunanda was very rich, but she owned no property in India,” Tharoor said.
He also said that he had no intention to cover up details of any of the properties owned by her, while declaring his assets as a Minister of State in 2013.
The details of Sunanda’s assets were not stated in the affidavit while submitting the nomination papers as she was not alive at that time.
Details of the assets held jointly by the couple were not stated as there were absolutely no asset ascertainable as owned jointly by Tharoor subsequent to the intestacy of Sunanda, along with her son or any other relative.
“As far as the properties held by Sunanda in Canada and UAE are concerned, the process of succession has to be initiated through the courts of the respective countries.
For that, debts and other liabilities related to the estate of the deceased have to be ascertained first, and the same have to be adjusted against the estate.
It is also not known whether all the properties Sunanda claimed to be hers in the UAE were registered in her name. Unless the properties are registered in her name, no successors or heirs could stake a claim to such properties which stood un-registered at the time of the death of the expatriate,” Tharoor submitted.
“Since the cases related to Sunanda’s death are being inquired into by the Delhi Police, and the inquiry is still on, the process of obtaining succession certificate has not begun yet,” he added.