Central government staff told to file revised assets declaration under Lokpal rule

The central government made it mandatory for all its employees to file declarations of their assets and liabilities as well as those of their spouses and children, under the Lokpal Act.

The government has asked public servants who have already filed declarations, information and annual return of property under the prevailing rules, to make a revised declaration, information or annual returns as of 1 August 2014 under the revised format as a one-time exception.

Accordingly, government employees have been asked to file returns with details regarding cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advances given to a person or any entity, among others, for the current year.

The notification stipulates that all file the revised declaration on or before 15 September 2014.

Under the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014, every public servant has to make a declaration of his / her assets and liabilities in the specified formats as of 31 March every year to the competent authority on or before 31 July of that year.

However, employees may be exempted by the competent authority for reasons recorded in writing from declaring assets if its value does not exceed 4 months basic pay or Rs2lakh, whichever is higher.