NEW DELHI, June 24: Despite warnings from the Union Home Ministry for timely submission of annual Immovable Property Returns, as many as 550 IPS officers, including Additional Director of CBI R K Datta and Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S M Sahai, have failed to submit their IPR for the year 2011.
Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who has been deposing against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Kumar Modi, again figures on the list of defaulters displayed on the Home Ministry’s official website.
The list, which has names of nearly one-sixth of sanctioned strength of 3,393 officers, also names senior officers, including Director General rank officers Jyothi Swarup Pandey of Uttarakhand and controversial Deputy Inspector General A K Upadhay, a 1976-batch IPS officer from Odhisa, who have not submitted their IPR for 2011.
Uttar Pradesh tops the list of defaulting IPS officers as 81 of a sanctioned strength of 317 have not submitted the list whereas Odisha has an outstanding of only eight IPS officers out of 107, who have failed to provide the information.
Among other states there are, 76 of Karnataka, 33 of Jharkhand, 29 of Andhra Pradesh, 26 of Jammu and Kashmir, 23 each of Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, 20 of Himachal Pradesh, 18 of Gujarat and 17 of Tamil Nadu.
The IPS officers have earlier been complaining that they submit their IPRs in time but the state governments did not send them to the Union Home Ministries.
However, the MHA has been categorical in asking the IPS officers to ensure that the copy should reach the Ministry within time and if they feel their was a delay, the same should be informed to the ministry, MHA officials said.
“Unless the property returns are received by the Central government, the records will not be completed and the government has no option but to assume that the returns have not been submitted,” an MHA circular said.
The Ministry had asked all IPS officer to submit their IPR for the year 2011 by January 31, 2012, which was followed by another missive asking them to submit their returns by June 18.
“In the absence of AIPR for the year 2011, vigilance clearance will not be granted and thus the IPS officers will not be considered for Service Medals for Independence Day, 2012,” the circular said.
The MHA had already warned that in case of default, the names of IPS officers would be made public on the ministry’s website.
“If the IPRs for 2010 are not received within the aforesaid period, names of defaulting officers will be posted on the website of this ministry,” a circular issued earlier said.
It also directed the officials to ensure that phrases such as “same as previous years”, “no change” or “no addition” should not be used in filing these returns and instead full particulars of immovable property (inherited/owned/acquired or held) should be furnished. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel