In Centre's flight of fantasy, staff can buy aircraft, ships

The Union government seems to be under the impression that its employees are ‘well paid’ to even buy aircraft, yacht or ship, which are worth a few hundred crores of rupees.

For, in the recent gazette notification with a new set of rules for public servants to furnish annual returns, containing declaration of assets and liabilities, the government wants its employees to declare if they own aircraft, yacht or ship. The All India Service officials from the State say filing the statement has become a cumbersome job since they have to now include details of movable assets, including those in the name of the spouse and dependent children. Every public servant shall file declaration regarding the assets and liabilities as on March 31 every year, to the competent authority.

 Since officers have already filed the same this year, they will have to file the revised declarations to the competent authority on or before September 15.

New rules

‘The new rules, under the powers conferred by sub-section (1) and other sub-sections of Section 59 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, mandate for the all India service employees to file the statement twice a year.
Through these new set of rules, the Central government has also made it mandatory for employees to furnish details about assets and liabilities of the public servant concerned and also of the spouse and dependent children, jointly or severally.

In one of the newly added clauses in form number 2, under sub-head 7, the public servants have been asked to state about “motor vehicles/aircraft/ yachts/ships with details of make, registration number, year of purchase and amount.’’

Till last year, the officials had to submit only a statement about immovable assets. However, the new rules mandate every detail about movable assets of the official, wife/husband and dependent children. A senior IAS officer, who did not wish to be named, said the new rules may not help in bringing in transparency.
“There are visible and glaring changes in the new set of rules. That apart, it is a cumbersome job to weigh each and every gold jewellery and evaluate all movable assets, such as TVs, refrigerators, vehicles. These movable assets may be purchased by the spouse or the children, yet they have to be entered in the statement, the official said.

Exception

The rules, however, have an exception. The competent authority may exempt a public servant from filing the information in respect of any asset, if the value does not exceed four months’ basic pay or Rs two lakh, whichever is higher.

Some officials also apprehend breach of privacy and disclosure of personal assets belonging to spouse and children in public space.

Details

“The details can be furnished as per the latest proforma, but there is no assurance that the information does not fall into wrong hands. This is because the details will be published in the website of the respective ministry where the official concerned is posted. With the deadline nearing, the dilemma is whether to declare or not,” an IPS officer said.