Govt considering action against officers who are yet to submit Annual IPR

Irked over non-submission of property details by some bureaucrats, the government is considering strict action, including withholding of annual increment, against the defaulters.

The government has already issued repeated reminders to a number of officials of Central Secretariat Service (Under Secretary and above level) seeking their Immovable Property Returns (IPRs).

Despite this, some of them have not submitted IPRs. It has been noted that many of them give details of the returns much beyond the due date which cause a lot of managerial inconvenience. The government is considering strict action against some officials,” a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) official said.

He said there have been such instances of non-submission or delayed submission of IPRs by members of All India Services, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) also.

DoPT officials said the Ministry of Personnel has already told all the government departments that vigilance clearance and empanelment at the Centre would be denied to the officials who fail to give their IPRs in time.

Besides, it has directed that late submission or non-submission of IPR be included in the relevant Annual Performance Appraisal Report of the officer concerned. “The government is considering further stern action, including withholding the annual increment of the defaulter.

The DoPT will move a proposal in this regard soon,” the official said. According to a fourth reminder issued by the DoPT on May 30, as many as 32 such officials have not submitted their IPRs for 2011.

Of these, 10 are either on deputation or on long leave, four in Women and Child Development, three each of Health and Home Affairs, two each of Higher Education and Social Justice Empowerment and one each of Ayush, Coal, Corporate Affairs, Defence, Heavy Industries, Posts, Revenue and Telecommunications.

As per norms, property details of officials for the previous year has to be given by January 31 of next year. “Ministries or departments are well aware that the Immovable Property Returns in respect of CSS officers (Under Secretary and above level) are required to be furnished to this division by January 31, this year. However, despite reminders the IPR for the year 2011 (due date January 31, 2012) in respect of a few officers are yet to be received,” the reminder said.

According to officials, a total of 209 IPS officers have not submitted their IPRs for 2010. “The DoPT will take up the issue with cadre controlling authorities including states governments in this regard,” the official added.

Source: Economic Times  via : www.gconnect.in