Disproportionate property: Rules are there to check, but who cares?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The police arrested top police official Rounak Ali Hazarika on the charge of amassing property disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The development came close on the heels of the arrest of ACS officer Saibar Rahman on similar charges.

A section of officials amasses huge fortunes that outweigh their sources of income. It happens despite there is a viable mechanism to check the menace. Thus negligence on the part of the authorities concerned is as clear as daylight.

Assam government rules say that an employee should submit his property returns – of both movable and immovable – to his appointing authority before January 31 every year. There are provisions for taking action against officials who do not comply with this rule. But who cares? Most of the officials do not bother to submit their property returns. Their authorities, it seems, give them the leeway not to comply with this rule.

Sources said that compared to the APS (Assam Police Service) officers, the track records of ACS (Assam Civil Service) officers are better insofar as the submission of property returns is concerned.

A retired IAS officer said, "Officers submit their property returns annually, and that get uploaded in the relevant website. Anybody can have access to the website and see the officer's property details. There are also provisions of lodging complaint by a third party to the appointing authority if it sees something unusual in an officer's property details."

An official source said, "An Assam government employee must disclose sources of the money to his appointing authority if he buys anything worth Rs 10,000 or above. However, the employees throw out the rule book, so do their authorities.

"People see the property amassed by many police officials that is heavily disproportionate to their sources of income. Such glaringly visible scenes befool the public. A question that pricks their conscience is: why do the authorities concerned stop short of gearing up their monitoring mechanism against those flouting the rule meant for mandatory annual property returns?"

The annual property returns of ACS/APS officers must-have information like their landed property, jewellery, buildings, cash, cars etc. The bottom line is: this government is cracking down on drug peddlers, encroachers, land brokers and others. Why doesn't its crackdown on those throwing out the rule book and amass huge fortunes disproportionate to their sources of income? Had the government strictly monitored the property returns of officers, the situation would not have come to such a pass.

Also Read: Assam: DIG Raunak Ali Hazarika Arrested By CM Vigilance Team For Possessing Disproportionate Assets

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