‘Govt workers should declare their assets’ ………Prafulla Marpakwar I TNN
Mumbai: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has asked CM Vilasrao Deshmukh to make it mandatory for all government employees to publicly declare their assets as is the case with the elected representatives.
If members of parliament and state legislature can file an affidavit on their assets, even government employees can declare their assets, Hazare said in a letter to Deshmukh. Hazare, who has threatened to launch an indefinite stir from next week, will meet the chief minister on Wednesday.
As per existing rules, all-India service officials—IAS, IPS and IFS—submit a statement of their assets in a sealed envelope, while other government officials submit the information once in five years. Besides, if government employees purchase any item of above Rs 10,000, they have to inform the general administration department (GAD). The entire information is always confidential and no one has access to it.
Significantly, Nagpur information commissioner Vilas Patil had passed an order, saying that under the RTI Act, there is no restriction on declaring the information submitted by an IAS officer. He had asked the then municipal commissioner Lokeshchandra to provide the information to the applicant. The Bombay HC had stayed Patil’s order.
Hazare’s contention was that when Union home minister Shivraj Patil and Deshmukh have declared their assets, the government employees should not take objection to it. Hazare has urged the CM to initiate departmental proceedings against officials who have been fined under the RTI Act. “If an official is found guilty under the RTI Act, the HoD should initiate proceedings against him directly and if he—the HoD—fails to take action, then the government should take action against him for dereliction of dut.’’
“We were the first state across the country to enact the RTI Act. We feel that some more time should be allowed for the implementation of the RTI Act in letter and spirit,’’ a senior official said.