UP Government Mandates Asset Declaration by August 31 for Employees; Non-Compliance Will Result in Salary Withholding
The Uttar Pradesh government has asked government employees to declare their movable and immovable assets by August 31. The order states that if they do not do so, they will not be paid this month's salary.
Earlier, as per the order issued in August last year, the deadline was December 31, which was first extended to June 30 and then to July 31. According to an NDTV report, as per the order, only 26 percent of the 17.8 lakh employees have made public the information about their assets on the government portal Manav Sampada. Therefore, now the deadline has been extended to August 31, 2024.
According to the report, 13 lakh government employees in Uttar Pradesh are at risk of losing their salaries this month if they fail to comply with the order.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has stressed on strict compliance of this order and said that only those people will be released salary who will put the details of their property on the portal before the new deadline.
This rule applies to all categories of officers and employees. Officials said that those who do not declare their assets may also be ineligible for promotion.
According to the report, the government justified the move saying that it will increase transparency and accountability.
The report quoted UP government minister Danish Azad Ansari as saying that its purpose is to increase transparency and accountability within the government. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are moving forward on the policy of zero-tolerance towards corruption.
The opposition has termed this move of the government as unfair. The opposition says that the government has failed to implement it. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said that why did they not bring it in 2017? Now the Yogi Adityanath government is on the back foot, so they are doing this. They have realized that all their employees are corrupt. The government has failed to implement it.