More public post holders submitting property details

Kathmandu, July 4

The number government officials and employees furnishing their property details has increased in the fiscal 2018-19 compared to the previous fiscal, said National Vigilance Centre.

According to a report released by the anti-corruption watchdog under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, as many as 589,525 pubic post holders submitted their property details on time in 2017-18. Civil servants should submit their property details through the Department of Civil Personnel Records. Nepali Army personnel are required to furnish the details to 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.

Out of 589,525 government officials, as many as 421,961 persons from the centre, 3,778 from the provinces and 163,786 from local levels disclosed their property in 2018-19. Despite gradual increase in the number of public post holders submitting their property details in a timely manner, some are still reluctant to fulfil the legal requirements for transparency.

“The percentage of public post holders failing to submit their property details decreased to 2.81 per cent in 2018-19 from 3.31 per cent in the previous fiscal,” read the report published on the website of NVC.

According to the anti-corruption watchdog, 17,185 government officials did not submit their property details.

The NVC said it had written to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, requesting it to initiate legal action against 17,185 persons for violating the existing law. As per the Prevention of Corruption Act-2002, a person who joins public office is, within 60 days from the date of joining the office and thereafter within 60 days from the date of completion of each fiscal year, required to submit updated statement of property in his/ her or his/her family members’ name, disclosing the sources to the body prescribed by the government.

The concerned body or authority may extend the deadline for submission of such details for a maximum of 30 days.

If a person does not submit the statement of property within the time-limit extended, s/ he 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.

NVC has introduced an online system for 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 collect, store, retrieve and analyse a large volume of data.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 5, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.