Over 200 IAS officers fail to submit property returns

An IAS officer is bound to file property returns of a year by January-end of the following year

Over 200 IAS officers have failed to submit their immovable property returns (IPRs) to the government within the stipulated time frame this year.

Of the 205 officers who did not submit their IPRs for 2013, 58 are from Uttar Pradesh cadre, 28 from Madhya Pradesh and 26 from Andhra Pradesh cadre, according to Department of Personnel and Training data.

Besides, 13 each such officials are from Odisha and West Bengal, 10 from Jammu and Kashmir, and seven each from Manipur-Tripura and from Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, it said.

There are five IAS officers from Sikkim, four each from Assam-Meghalaya, Haryana, Jharkhand, Nagaland, and Rajasthan, and three each such personnel from Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand cadres who have not submitted their IPRs for 2013.

Two officers each from Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra cadres have also not submitted their IPRs for the last year.

As many as 4,619 IAS officers are working across the country against the total authorised strength of 6,270.

There are also 152 IAS officers who have not submitted their IPRs for 2012 and 49 others who have failed to give their property details for 2011. There are also 38 IAS officers who have not submitted their IPRs for 2010, the DoPT data said.

An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer is bound to file property returns of a year by January-end of the following year, failing which promotion and empanelment to senior-level postings may be denied.

In a related development, the DoPT has asked all central government ministries, states government and union territories administrators to ensure that all IAS, IPS and IFoS services officers file their revised property returns by September 15, as part of a mandatory obligation under the new Lokpal rules.

"The new Lokpal rules make it mandatory to file a revised return. The circular has been issued to ensure that officers give details in time," a senior DoPT official said.

As per the rules, notified under Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, every public servant shall file declaration, information and annual returns of his assets and liabilities as on March 31, every year, on or before July 31 of that year. However, for the current year, the last date of filing such returns have been decided as September 15.

According to the Lokpal Act, a public servant shall furnish to the competent authority information relating to the assets of which he, his spouse and his dependent children, jointly or severally, own.