The Odisha government has made the submission of an annual property statement mandatory for public representatives and government servants of all ranks. The move is touted be the government’s attempt to ensure a transparent and corruption-free administration.
According to a resolution passed by the General Administration and Public Grievance Department, at present, the submission of the annual property statement by government servants is being regulated in accordance with the provisions of Rule 21 of the Odisha Government Servants’ Conduct Rules,1959. The government, which has come up with a set of modalities to be followed by public servants, will now amend it to implement the latest decision.
From now on, government servants will submit annual property returns as on January 1 of each year by January 31 of the year. Up-to-date filing of property return has been made a prerequisite for promotions. An enabling online facility will be created for easy filing of property returns.
According to present practice, State government employees are required to obtain prior permission for the purchase of movable assets, whose value is more than two months’ basic pay.
“This is done away with. Instead, employees will intimate any such transaction immediately to the head of office besides mentioning such transaction in the annual property return,” say the modalities.
“All India Services (AIS) officers will submit their immovable property return on the Government of India portal, as usual. This information is already available in public domain and can also be accessed by Lokayukt. Besides, AIS officers are also required to intimate the authority on purchase of movable property where cost is more than two months, basic pay. A copy of such statement will also be sent to the Lokayukta by the concerned officers,” the government said.
