E-Paper
Haryana puts on hold order to chargesheet officers for not filing property returns
The group A, B and C officers have been asked by the Haryana government to file the annual property returns by October 31
: The Haryana government on Tuesday put on hold its contentious order to chargesheet group A, B and C officers, who did not file their annual property returns despite reminders, and granted a “last opportunity” to the erring officials to submit it by October 31.
“Now, the state government has taken a lenient view and it has been decided to grant last opportunity to all officers/officials of group A, B and C to file their annual property returns on... portal up to October 31,” reads a letter by the Haryana government’s human resources department sent to all the administrative secretaries, heads of departments, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners etc..
“It has also been decided not to chargesheet any official till October 31 on account of non- filing of annual property returns and instructions issued on August 18 may be kept at abeyance till October 31,” the letter stated.
Notwithstanding the latest instruction, the deadline for the submission of online annual property returns will remain unchanged (April 30 of every financial year) in future.
In a tough stand against the group A, B and C officials violating the instructions about mandatory filing of their annual property returns, the state government on August 18 had directed the concerned authorities to start chargesheeting officers who had failed to upload their annual property returns for the last two or more than two years.
The government had decided that the group A, B and C officers, who had not filed annual property returns for the last two years will be chargesheeted under Rules 8 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 2016, (procedure for imposing minor penalties).
The erring employees of the same categories who had not filed property returns of more than two years were to be chargesheeted under Rules 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 2016, (major penalty).
As per Rule 24 of the Haryana Civil Services (government employees conduct) Rules, 2016, every government employee has to submit his movable and immovable property returns as on March 31 of every financial year or as and when directed by the prescribed authority.
On October 29, 2018, the government had issued instructions to all government employees (Class-A, B and C) to submit their property returns online for the financial year 2017-18 on a portal, and the deadline was fixed for April 30 of every financial year.
The state government had issued another letter on June 6, 2022, granting an opportunity to all those government employees who were unable to file their annual property returns and directed them to file it on the human resources management system (HRMS) portal up to June 30, 2022.
However, it was noticed that several employees had not filed their annual property returns on the HRMS portal despite reminders, prompting the state government to take “a serious view of it” and issue directions to chargesheet the erring officers.
