by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special report (Govt Letter annexed)
PMO warns IAS officers for not filing Property details
Department sends letters to Secretaries, states
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Dec. 19
Extremely upset over the failure of hundreds of IAS officers for not filing their property returns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now warned them of launching “disciplinary proceedings, among other things”.
For the first time, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) directly under the Prime Minister, has warned the erring officials that action will be initiated against them if they fail to file their property returns. The stern warning came after a series of soft letters were sent to them.
Dr C Chandramouli, secretary, DoPT, wrote to all the secretaries to the government of India and Chief Secretaries of states on November 21, 2019 that a large number of IAS officers have not submitted their property return.
The circular letter stated that as per Rule 16(2) of AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968 that every member of the Service shall submit an annual return in such form as may be prescribed by the Government in this reqard, giving full particulars regarding the Immovable Property Returns (IPRs) inherited by him or owned or acquired by him or held by him on lease or mortgage,either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family or in the name of any other person.
He said “Failure on the part of the service to comply with the requirements of the aforesaid provisions constitutes good and sufficient reason for institution of disciplinary proceedings, among other things. The government has set a deadline of January 31, 2020 as the final deadline of filing IPRs.
It is learnt that as many as 1500 IAS officers spread across the country have not filed their IPR details out of a total of 6500 IAS officers in the country until 2017 end. The number of IAS officers on Central Deputation Resrve is only 507 while the authorised strength is 1,381.
Now the Government has set a final deadline of January 31,2020 by which the data has to be submitted. If the same is not submitted on line, the Modi Government may proceed with legal and penal actions.
