No promotions if Rajasthan officials don't declare assets

Taking a tough stand, Rajasthan government has decided to stop promotions and salary increments of all officers who do not submit their property details for the year 2014.

The orders released by Department of Personnel gives officers two days' time to declare their immovable and movable assets. The orders will be effective July 1.

Interestingly, property details of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her ministers are also missing from the official website of the General Administration Department.

Department of Personnel sources said most of the senior officials have declared their assets, except 323 gazetted officers from the Rajasthan Administrative Services (RAS) cadre.

They form over 35 per cent strength of total 855 officers of the cadre.

“The govt is now in no mood to tolerate such indiscipline. So it has decided  to take strict action against them. They still have two days with them to declare their assets, or else their promotion and increments will be stopped from next month,” said a senior DoP official.

All departmental heads have been directed not to give Vigilance clearance to gazetted officials who have not submitted the property details.

The order against the 323 officials has attracted the attention of the  Congress party, which has blamed Raje and her ministers for adopting duel standards.

“If government wants officials to declare their assets, it should first set a precedence. You cannot have two approaches for the same matter.

It was our chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who along with his ministers declared his assets and later asked the officials,” said state Congress committee spokesperson Archana Sharma.

BJP leaders retaliated, saying the Congress was making an issue out of nothing. The Chief Minister and all other leaders had declared their assets six months back, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.