Times of India; Tuesday, April 12, 2011,
NEW DELHI: After months of dilly-dallying, the government has finally decided to crack the whip on errant babus who have so far refused to submit a list of immovable property.
The personnel department has threatened that officers of All India Services such as IAS and IPS and Group A Central Service officers would not be given vigilance clearance and would not be considered for promotion at empanelment for senior-level posts at the Centre if they do not submit their property returns.
These officers had to file their annual Immovable Property Returns for 2010 by the end of January 2011 but several of them are yet to submit it. Though the department of personnel and training had written to state chief secretaries for sending the returns by February 15, and even reminded them in late March, the response has not been good.
This has prompted Establishment Officer I V Subba Rao to send a fresh reminder to states and other agencies setting April 20 as the new deadline. Rao, who sent the letter last week, also said the names of defaulting officers would be put up on the personnel department's website.
The reminders come as the Centre has been asked to place the annual property returns of central service and all-India service officers in public domain by January 1, 2011.
A vigilance clearance is mandatory for government officials for empanelment to a higher grade. In addition, for several posts, a subsequent vigilance nod is required.
The government is insisting on filing of annual property returns as Right to Information activists have demanded that these details be put out in public domain. After a prolonged battle with the government, especially the bureaucracy, RTI activists managed to get the Central Information Commission to agree to their demands.
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