Team News Riveting
New Delhi, December 22
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Law and Justice has come down heavily on the officials of the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to increase surveillance on them for failing to file property returns.
The panel of Parliament has identified 316 erring officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) have failed to file the annual immovable property returns (IPR) for 2020. The number of such IAS officers as of January 1, 2021, was 349, but 33 officers subsequently filed the returns, leaving 316 in the defaulting segment.
“This makes a case for the institution of stringent measures other than denial of vigilance clearance against erring officers,” the committee said in its report submitted in the Parliament last week. “This is a matter of concern,” said the panel recommending the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to increase surveillance on the activities of such officials.
“The DoPT must also furnish a status note detailing the stringent measures that can be taken against IAS officers who fail to file IPRs within the stipulated time limit,” said the committee headed by Sushil Modi.
The All-India Services Conduct Rules 1968 (Rule 16 (2)) mandate every member of the service to submit an annual return, giving particulars of the immovable property inherited, owned, acquired or held by him on lease or mortgage either in his name or in the name of any member of his family or in the name of any other person.
The government had introduced the facility of online filing of IPRs from January 1, 2017 to weed out corruption and enhance oversight.
The rules clearly state that vigilance clearance will be denied to any officer if he fails to submit his annual IPR of the previous year by January 31 of the following year.
