State asks IAS officers to declare immovable assets
Mumbai: It’s not only common citizens the gove r n m e n t has to remind to pay their taxes on time. The state government recently sent a sternly worded circular to all IAS officers asking them to declare their ‘immovable assets’ by the end of the year.
All central government employees (Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service) have to file two sets of returns of their ‘immovable assets’, meaning property owned by them, by December 31. These documents are submitted sealed and opened only in case of a complaint. They are stored in the Mantralaya—in the General Administration Department (GAD) in case of IAS officers and home department in case of IPS officers.
This system of filing details of their assets was recently in the news after the details of director general of police P S Pasricha’s properties became public. Since the document is meant to be sealed, a probe was ordered into the “leak’’ of the information.
“It has been found that many IAS officers do not submit this information properly. Most officers submit them late, some of them submit several years’ details together. Many do not submit the documents in a sealed envelope, all of which is against the rules,’’ says the circular given to all officials.
“Many IAS officials have a very casual approach to these documents as they are sealed in any case. They don’t realise that if opened in case of a complaint and found to have incorrect information, they can land themselves in serious trouble,’’ said a GAD official.
IAS officials are also required to alert the GAD every time they make a purchase of more than Rs 15,000. “This has almost become a joke by now, as no official is going to alert the government every time they buy a fridge or television set,’’ the official added.
All central government employees (Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service) have to file two sets of returns of their ‘immovable assets’, meaning property owned by them, by December 31. These documents are submitted sealed and opened only in case of a complaint. They are stored in the Mantralaya—in the General Administration Department (GAD) in case of IAS officers and home department in case of IPS officers.
This system of filing details of their assets was recently in the news after the details of director general of police P S Pasricha’s properties became public. Since the document is meant to be sealed, a probe was ordered into the “leak’’ of the information.
“It has been found that many IAS officers do not submit this information properly. Most officers submit them late, some of them submit several years’ details together. Many do not submit the documents in a sealed envelope, all of which is against the rules,’’ says the circular given to all officials.
“Many IAS officials have a very casual approach to these documents as they are sealed in any case. They don’t realise that if opened in case of a complaint and found to have incorrect information, they can land themselves in serious trouble,’’ said a GAD official.
IAS officials are also required to alert the GAD every time they make a purchase of more than Rs 15,000. “This has almost become a joke by now, as no official is going to alert the government every time they buy a fridge or television set,’’ the official added.