New Delhi: In an unprecedented move aimed at ‘transparency and accountability’ the Uttar Pradesh government has taken a hardline stance withholding the August salaries of over 2.5 lakh state employees who failed to disclose their property details online.
The directive, issued on August 17th, mandated that all state employees upload their property details onto the Manav Sampada Portal by August 31st. However, despite repeated reminders, a huge number of employees, nearly 2,44,565, failed to submit the details, resulting in a salary freeze.
Mixed response of public servants
The government’s decision to withhold salaries has been met with mixed responses from the public servants in the state. While some departments, such as Textiles, Soldier Welfare, Energy, Sports, Agriculture, and Women Welfare, departments, displayed high compliance rates, others, particularly those in the education department, failed to upload the details on time. The Basic Education, Higher Education, Medical Health, Industrial Development, and Revenue departments were identified as having the lowest compliance rates.
71 per cent of employees filed details
According to the reports, only 71 per cent of the employees working in different departments in the state uploaded this information. The order is also for IAS, IPS, PPS and PCS officers working in the state.
The Chief Secretary had directed all employees to disclose their assets through a government order. All the departments were ordered, that only those who give property details by August 31 should be given a salary for August. There are a total of 846640 state employees in the state and 602075 gave details of movable and immovable property on the Manav Sampada portal.
The government’s clear message to employees
The government has made it clear that the withheld salaries will only be released once the employees submit their property details. When the order was issued on August 17, only 131748 i.e. 15 per cent of the state employees had registered their assets on the portal. Between August 20-31, the adherence rate reached 71 per cent. A high-ranking official of the government said that orders have already been given to stop the salary of the employees who do not give details of the property citing that the submission of property details is important to withdraw the salary.
Why do police seek extension?
The DGP headquarters has sent a letter to the Appointments Department and requested an extension, citing festival holidays and ongoing police recruitment examinations. The government is considering this request, but it remains unclear whether any exemptions will be granted.
According to highly placed sources in the government, the officers and employees whose salary for August has been withheld will be released only after they give details of the property after talks with the government.
