By Arun Pratap SinghGarhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 17 Dec: The Uttarakhand Congress has launched a sharp attack on the state government over the Personnel Department’s directive asking all the government employees to submit details of their movable and immovable assets. The Congress has termed the government move as harassment of the workforce in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections and an attempt to pressurise government officials.
It may be noted there that the submission of annual property returns by government officials and employees is mandatory under the existing Employee Service Rules. The Personnel Department had just recently issued a reminder after a large number of employees failed to comply within the stipulated time. The Congress party, perhaps seeking to make it a political issue, today questioned both the timing and the intent behind the fresh directive.
Congress State President Ganesh Godiyal claimed that the issue has turned into a major point of concern in the state. He alleged that the government has begun exerting pressure on employees just ahead of the Assembly polls. He claimed that by creating fear over scrutiny of their assets, the government was attempting to convey a message about the consequences employees might face if they did not align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming elections. Godiyal said it is unfortunate that while transparency was being demanded from employees, the government appeared indifferent towards ministers facing allegations of holding assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. He questioned why no action was being taken against such ministers and why they continued to be part of the cabinet.
Godiyal further alleged that the government is deliberately trying to intimidate employees so that they either remain silent or extend support to the ruling party’s political agenda out of fear. He described the exercise as a planned political manoeuvre aimed at applying pressure on the workforce and demanded that ministers and legislators should first make their own assets public before imposing such measures on government employees.
On the other hand, the BJP has strongly rejected the Congress allegations. The ruling party has asserted that the directive was part of a routine administrative process. Senior BJP spokesperson and MLA Vinod Chamoli reminded that under the Employee Service Rules, all government employees are required to submit details of their assets every year and that there was nothing new or extraordinary about the order. He said the system had been in place for a long time and the recent communication was merely a reminder issued because the procedure was not being followed properly by many of the officials. Chamoli added that both those seeking the information and those submitting it are part of the same official framework.
Chamoli also favoured strict action against employees who fail to furnish their asset details, suggesting that penalties such as withholding promotions and annual increments should be enforced to ensure compliance. He said such measures are necessary to curb corruption in the system. On the question of assets held by ministers and MLAs, he said elected representatives already disclose their assets publicly at the time of filing nominations during elections and that their position should not be equated with that of government officials and the employees.
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