KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 1
As many as 15,409 government employees and office bearers did not comply with the mandatory provision requiring them to submit their property details for the fiscal 2020-21.
According to a report recently released by the National Vigilance Centre, the number of government employees and office bearers failing to submit their property details within the stipulated time accounted for 2.21 per cent. There were a of total of 696,624 government employees and office bearers who had to submit property details. Of them, 681,215 (97.79 per cent) persons submitted their property details. This figure is a slightly higher compared to the previous fiscal. Despite gradual increase in the number of public post holders submitting their property details in a timely manner, some employees are still reluctant to fulfil the legal requirements for transparency.
As per the anti-corruption watchdog under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, 97.28 per cent of government employees and office bearers had submitted their property details for the fiscal 2019-20.
Civil servants should submit their property details through the Department of Civil Personnel Records. Nepali Army personnel are required to furnish details to the Army Record Office, police personnel to Police Record Management Department, school teachers to School Teacher Record Office and other persons holding public office to the concerned agencies.
The NVC has written to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, requesting the anti-graft body to initiate legal action against erring employees.
As per the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002, any person who joins public office is required to submit the updated statement of property in his/her or his/her family members' name along with sources or evidence thereof to the body prescribed by the government within 60 days from the date of joining such office and thereafter within 60 days from the date of completion of each fiscal year.
If the person does not submit the statement of property details within the extended time frame, he/she will be liable to a fine of Rs 5,000 and the concerned body or official may launch investigation into the property in his/her and his/her family members' names.
The NVC has implemented online system to ascertain the submission of property details by public post holders in accordance with the existing law. With the help of online system, the anti-corruption watchdog can easily collect, store, retrieve and analyse a large volume of data related to property details of public post holders.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 2, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
