Asset declaration by govt officials to be mandatory: Hazare

[karira]

As reported by Prafulla Marpakwar of TNN in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 13 August 2008:
Asset declaration by govt officials to be mandatory: Hazare-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India

Asset declaration by govt officials to be mandatory: Hazare

Mumbai: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has asked CM Vilasrao Deshmukh to make it mandatory for all government employees to publicly declare their [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]assets[/color][/color] as is the case with the elected representatives.

If members of parliament and state legislature can file an affidavit on their assets, even government employees can declare their assets , Hazare said in a letter to Deshmukh. Hazare, who has threatened to launch an indefinite stir from next week, will meet the chief minister on Wednesday.

As per existing rules, all-India service officials-IAS , IPS and IFS-submit a statement of their assets in a sealed envelope, while other government officials submit the information once in five years. Besides, if government employees purchase any item of above Rs 10,000, they have to inform the general administration department (GAD). The entire information is always confidential and no one has access to it.

Significantly, Nagpur information commissioner Vilas Patil had passed an order, saying that under the RTI Act, there is no restriction on declaring the information submitted by an IAS officer. He had asked the then municipal commissioner Lokeshchandra to provide the information to the applicant. The Bombay HC had stayed Patil's order.

Hazare's contention was that when Union home minister Shivraj Patil and Deshmukh have declared their assets , the government employees should not take objection to it. Hazare has urged the CM to initiate departmental proceedings against officials who have been fined under the RTI Act. "If an official is found guilty under the RTI Act, the HoD should initiate proceedings against him directly and if he-the HoD-fails to take action, then the government should take action against him for dereliction of duty.''

"We were the first state across the country to enact the RTI Act. We feel that some more time should be allowed for the implementation of the RTI Act in letter and spirit,'' a senior official said.

[taurus]

IF such declaration is made it will really help promoting transparency and accountability, though it may not, on its own, eliminate corruption. After all not all the disproportionate assets will be kept in one's own name. Nevertheless it will be a good step in the right direction.

[sidmis]

Show me your money, Patil tells officials
As Reported by Surendra Gangan, DNA, 16 August 2008

Prompted by social crusader Anna Hazare, both chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and deputy chief minister RR Patil are wondering why bureaucrats are out of the purview of compulsory declaration of assets.

In a meeting, attended by eight cabinet ministers and over six additional chief secretary-level officers, on Wednesday night Patil posed the question, ?When every politician is bound to disclose the property, at least every five years, why are the bureaucrats spared??

Annual disclosure of assets by IAS and IPS officers was one of the demands placed before the state government by Hazare during the meeting that lasted four-and-a-half hours (till 11.15 pm).
Patil got backing from Deshmukh, who in turn looked towards chief secretary Johny Joseph for a reply. Joseph said the prevalent system was as per the service rules of the Central government. Hazare told Deshmukh that Bihar government had made it compulsory for bureaucrats to disclose the properties and other assets they and their families own, on the lines of disclosure expected of electoral candidates.

Joseph told the meeting, ?Bureacracy comes under Central government and we have asked them to take a view of the existing system on the background of the demand made by Hazare.?
Patil said such a move would go a long way in maintaining transparency.

Under present rules, IAS and IPS officers are meant to submit in sealed envelopes before March 31 each year details of their assets. The envelopes are never opened until and unless a case of disproportionate assets arises. When the details were leaked from the sealed envelope of the then DGP PS Pasricha two years ago, the system was questioned for the first time.

Like civil services officials, each state government employee also submit a sealed envelope of his or her assets — but once in five years. Hazare has demanded the disclosure be made transparent and even put on the government website. An official of the general administration department said the government cannot make it compulsory only for employees of Maharashtra. ?We can go ahead with an Act only if Central government makes it mandatory for officials all over the country,? he said.

DNA E-Paper - Daily News & Analysis -Mumbai,India