Declaration
of Chief Minister to make Property
Statement of Govt. servants public –
Another Media Propaganda to deceive
the people of Odisha- How
On the
one hand, the Govt.
does not allow the property statement of
public servants to be disclosed
despite provision of Odisha Lokayukta Act,
on the other hand Chief
Minister gives emphasis
on public disclosure
of assets by the
Public Servants. This is sheer
mockery.
1. As
per All India Service
conduct Rules and odisha Civil
service ( CC&A) Rules, 1962 , each
Govt. servant is required to give
property statement to their higher authority in every
year.
2. As per section 44 (2) of the
Odisha Lokayukta Act,2014 ( Declaration of assets)- A Public Servant shall,
within a period of thirty days
from the date on which he makes
and subscribes an oath or
affirmation to enter upon his office
, furnish to the
competent authority the
information relating to
(a)
the
assets of which he, his
spouse and his dependents children are are jointly, severally , owners of
beneficiaries
(b)
His liabilities
and that of his spouse
and his dependent children
Section 44 (3)- A Public servant
holding his office at the time of commencement of the Act
shall furnish information
relating to such assets
and liabilities within
ninety days of the
coming into force of this Act.
Section 44(4)- Every
public servant shall file with
the competent authority
on or before the
thirty-first July of every year, an annual report such assets
and liabilities as on thirty-first
March of that year.
Section 444(5)
– This information shall be furnished
to the competent authority
in such form and in such manner as may
be prescribed
Section 44 (6)- The
competent authority in
respect of each Department shall ensure that all
such statements are published
on the website of such department
by thirty-first August of that year.
The analysis
of this section is that
Each Public authority
shall file their
property statement with the
competent authority by
thirty-first July of every
year which will
be uploaded in website by thirty-first August of every
year.
3.
Though
Odisha Lokayukta Act was
enacted in 2014 , the
State Govt. notified on 7th July 2018 for
enforcement of the Act.
4.
On 13th September, 2019, the Govt. of Odisha amended the
Act as the Odisha Lokayukta (
amendment) Act, 2019 . Under this amendment, section 44 ( declaration of
asset) and 57( power to make Rules) ( k and i ) was amended making provision
of the Rules to be
made for prescribing
form and manner of declaration of
asset and liabilities by the public
servants under section 44 which will be enforced retrospectively i.e.,
implementation of the Act.
5.
In
the meantime, The Lokayukta, Odisha has
presented to Govt. a draft Rules
i.e., The Odisha Public Servants
(Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the
Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2019 for
its implementation.
6.
Though two
years passed since implementation of the Act,
the State Govt. has not yet framed the Rules for
prescribing form and manner for
declaration of assets by the public servants. This
is the biggest stumbling block for
bringing transparency in the
administration.
7. On
the one hand, the
Govt. does not allow the
property statement of public servants to be disclosed despite provision of Odisha
Lokayukta Act, on the other hand Chief Minister gives
emphasis on public
disclosure of assets by
the Public Servants. This
is sheer mockery.
Prepared by Pradip
Pradhan , M-9937843482
Date- 23.12.20
