NEW DELHI: As many as 379 IAS officers, including nine of Assam-Meghalaya, have not filed their immovable property returns (IPRs) for 2016, the government told Parliament on Thursday.
The IPRs for last year were to be filed by January 31, 2017. “Out of 5,004 officers as per civil list 2017, as on date 379 IAS officers have not filed their IPRs for 2016.Of these, 38 officers have retired till date and two have expired,” Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Of the total officers, the highest of 37 are from Manipur-Tripura cadre, 34 of union territories cadre, 32 of Andhra Pradesh, 31 of Uttar Pradesh, 27 of West Bengal cadre and 22 of Punjab cadre, Singh said.
There are 20 IAS officers of Odisha cadre, 19 each of Jharkhand and Nagaland cadres, 18 of Karnataka, 17 each of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, 15 of Telangana, 12 of Madhya Pradesh, 11 of Jammu and Kashmir, nine of Assam-Meghalaya, eight of Bihar, four of Tamil Nadu, five of Sikkim, three of Kerala, two each of Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, and one of Maharashtra, he said.
As per rules, officials would be denied vigilance clearance if they fail to submit IPRs in time.
Directive on realty rules
A parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry of housing and urban affairs to “strictly instruct” the states, which have diluted the rules under the real estate law to either amend it or re-notify them in line with the “letter and spirit” of the Act.
The Committee on Subordinate Legislation, headed by BJP MP Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi, said rules notified by some of the states were not in consonance with the spirit of the Act.
Four states — Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland —had some constitutional issues over land ownership, while three states —Manipur, West Bengal and Goa — have not provided any information on the notification of the rules under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016.
It also observed that rules were skewed in favour of builders, hurting the consumer interests particularly in areas like definition of ongoing projects, penalties for non- compliance and dealing with structural defects.
The panel noted that the Ministry had taken up the matter with the states during consultation meetings and also written to them to adhere to the letter and spirit of the Act.
“The Committee are distressed to note that the Ministry have not clearly spelt out the ways and means in this regard. “The Committee, while recognising that each state have their respective development laws, sanctioning procedures, and other land related unique issues, recommend that the Ministry should strictly instruct the states to either amend their rules or re-notify them in line with the letter and spirit of the Act,” the Committee said in its report, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The Committee also expressed its “dismay” over the delay in framing of the rules by many states.
The states were required to notify the rules by October 31, 2016. It said, as per the information submitted by the Ministry, only 12 states/UTs had notified the rules. (PTI)
