13 lakh UP govt staff salaries to be withheld for not declaring assets

In Uttar Pradesh, more than 13 lakh employees risk losing their salaries if they don't comply with an order of the Yogi Adityanath government. The government employees have been asked to declare their moveable and immovable assets on a government portal - Manav Sampada - by August 31 or else they will not be paid salaries for this month. Non-compliance will also affect promotions, the latest order said.

The initial deadline of the order - issued in August last year was December 31. The deadline was extended multiple times after that - June 30, and then to July 31 - but with only 26 per cent compliance. The deadline has now been pushed to August 31.

At present, there are 17 lakh 88 thousand 429 government employees in Uttar Pradesh. Out of this, only about 26 percent employees have given details of their properties. Which means, more than 13 lakh employees are yet to disclose their asset details.

While the deadline has been extended many times in the past the latest directive comes as an ultimatum for those who've failed to submit the details.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has categorically stated that only those who give details of properties by August 31 will be paid for the month of August, while the salary of all others will be stopped.

The state government has justified the step saying it "enhances transparency and accountability".

"This measure aims to enhance transparency and accountability within the government. We have a zero tolerance policy towards corruption under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Minister Danish Azad Ansari.

The opposition has criticised the move and said that multiple deadline extensions show that the state government failed to implement its order.

"Why did they not bring this in 2017? Now the Yogi Adityanath government is on the back foot, that's why they are doing this. They have realised all their employees are corrupt. This is a follow up, they were not able to implement this," said Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma.

It is mandatory for all categories of officers and employees to disclose the details of movable and immovable properties.

Principal Secretary of personnel department M Devraj has sent the order issued by the Chief Secretary to all the Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries as well as Department Heads and Office Heads. As per the order, the employees who fail to give out these details will not be considered for promotions.