File property returns under Lokpal in time: Govt to babus

Central government employees should file details of their assets and liabilities under the Lokpal Act by next month end, the Centre said today.
The first return under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act as on August 1, 2014 should be filed on or before April 30, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
The next annual return under the Act for the year ending March 31, 2015, should be filed on or before July 31, this year, it said.
The declarations under the Lokpal Act are in addition to the Immovable Property Returns (IPRs) filed by them under existing services rules.

"The annual return for subsequent years as on March 31, every year should be filed on or before July 31 of that year," the DoPT order said.
The DoPT had last year notified the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Amendment Rules, 2014.

As per the rules, every public servant shall file the returns of his assets and liabilities, including that of his spouse and dependent family members, on March 31 every year on or before July 31 of that year.
For the current year, the last date for filing these returns was September 15 last, which was later extended to December-end and now till April 30, 2015.

All Group A, B, and C employees are supposed to file a declaration under the new rules.
The secretaries of all ministries or departments have already been asked to advise all concerned to file the IPRs and the return under the Lokpal Act.
An online system for filling the annual declarations of assets and liabilities by the public servants, as in PRISM (Property Related Information System) for IAS officers developed by NIC, can be adopted, the DoPT has earlier said.