If staff in Odisha’s agriculture department don’t submit annual property statements, their salaries would be stopped

If staff in Odisha’s agriculture department don’t submit annual property statements, their salaries would be stopped.

The agricultural secretary stated that if employees of the Odisha agriculture department do not turn in their yearly property declarations by January 31, they will no longer be paid.

According to the Odisha Government Service Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021, all government employees in Odisha are required to provide annual property statements, however many of them fail to do so.

“This is hereby directed that every government servant of this (agriculture and farmers’ empowerment) department must submit the property statement in the given format online in the HRMS portal by end of January, 2023, failing which their salaries for February, 2023 onwards would not be drawn till they file the statement,” says an order issued by agriculture secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee.

The department’s all-India service (AIS) officers, including the secretary, must abide by the directive.

After the deadline has passed, the concerned officers will submit the list of defaulting employees for appropriate action.

Government personnel in Groups A through D were instructed to provide a “true and comprehensive disclosure” of all of their assets, both movable and immovable, along with the value of each item, by midnight on December 31. The human resources management system (HRMS) site is where the statements are submitted electronically. Promotion requires that property statements be filed on time.

In December 2020, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made the announcement that all public servants, from entry-level workers to those holding the position of chief secretary, as well as representatives of the people, from ward members to the chief minister, must disclose their financial information. The goal of the action was to guarantee governance transparency.

Additionally, the chief minister had stated that the property information for elected officials and other members of the public would be provided annually to the Lokayukta in Odisha.

Every three years, state government personnel used to submit property statements in a “sealed cover,” but that practise has since been discontinued.

Previously, state government employees were required to obtain prior approval before purchasing any movable assets with a value greater than two months’ worth of basic pay. Now, however, employees are required to immediately notify the head of their office of any such transaction in addition to including it in their annual property return.