Every public servant to declare Assets in prescribed form: Bill in Lok Sabha Introduced

CA Satbir Singh — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 07:57:12 +0000

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY [PART II- Section 2]

LOK SABHA

————

The following Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 27th July, 2016:—

BILL NO. 185 OF 2016 A

Bill to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

Short title and commencement.

1. (1) This Act may be called the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Act, 2016.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 16th day of January, 2014.

Amendment of section 44.

2. On and from the date of commencement of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for section 44, the following section shall be substituted, and shall be deemed to have been substituted, namely:—

Declaration of assets.

“44. On and from the date of commencement of this Act, every public servant shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities in such form and manner as may be prescribed.”.

Amendment of section 59.

3. On and from the date of commencement of the principal Act, in section 59, in sub-section (2), for clause (k), the following clause shall be substituted, and shall be deemed to have been substituted, namely:—

“(k) the form and manner of declaration of assets and liabilities by public servants under section 44:

Provided that the rules may be made under this clause retrospectively from the date on which the provisions of this Act came into force;”.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014), was enacted and brought into force with effect from 16th January, 2014.

2. A Bill, namely, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas and other related law (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was introduced in Lok Sabha, inter alia, to streamline and harmonise the provisions relating to furnishing of information on assets and liabilities by public servants under section 44 of the said Act with the applicable Acts, rules and regulations. The said Bill was referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee which submitted its report on 7th December, 2015. The Standing Committee has given some recommendations.

3. However, keeping in view the concerns expressed by different categories of public servants and in line with one of the recommendations of the Standing Committee, a need has been felt to amend section 44, with a consequential amendment, so as to provide that on and from the commencement of the said Act, every public servant shall make declaration of his assets and liabilities in such form and manner as may be prescribed.

4. In view of the aforesaid, it is now proposed to introduce a new Bill, namely, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to provide for substitution of section 44 with effect from the date of the commencement of the said Act.

5. The Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objectives.

NEW DELHI;

DR. JITENDRA SINGH. The 26th July, 2016.

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Clause 3 of the Bill seeks to substitute clause (k) of sub-section (2) of section 59 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, so as to empower the Central Government to make rules for the purpose of prescribing the form and manner in which declaration of assets and liabilities is to be made by public servant under section 44. The proviso to the said clause (k) empowers the Central Government to make rules with retrospective effect.

2. The matters in respect of which rules may be made under the proposed amendments are matters of procedure and administrative details and it is not practicable to provide for them in the Bill itself. The delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character.

ANOOP MISHRA

Secretary General

Editorial Note : Presently ( Before above amendment) :-

Section 44 of Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 read as folllow

CHAPTER XIII

DECLARATION OF ASSETS

Declaration of assets.

44. (1) Every public servant shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities in the manner as provided by or under this Act.

(2) A public servant shall, within a period of thirty days from the date on which he makes and subscribes an oath or affirmation to enter upon his office, furnish to the competent authority the information relating to—

(a)		the assets of which he, his spouse and his dependent children are, jointly or severally, owners or beneficiaries;
(b)		his liabilities and that of his spouse and his dependent children.

(3) A public servant holding his office as such, at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall furnish information relating to such assets and liabilities, as referred to in sub-section (2), to the competent authority within thirty days of the coming into force of this Act.

(4) Every public servant shall file with the competent authority, on or before the 31st July of every year, an annual return of such assets and liabilities, as referred to in sub-section (2), as on the 31st March of that year.

(5) The information under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) and annual return under sub-section (4) shall be furnished to the competent authority in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed.

(6) The competent authority in respect of each Ministry or Department shall ensure that all such statements are published on the website of such Ministry or Department by 31st August of that year.

Explanation—For the purposes of this section, “dependent children” means sons and daughters who have no separate means of earning and are wholly dependent on the public servant for their livelihood.

Section 59 :-

Power to make rules.

59. (1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—

(a) the form of complaint referred to in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2

;(b) the term of the Search Committee, the fee and allowances payable to its members and the manner of selection of panel of names under sub-section (5) of section 4;

(c) the post or posts in respect of which the appointment shall be made after consultation with the Union Public Service Commission under the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 10;

(d) other matters for which the Lokpal shall have the powers of a civil court under clause (vi) of sub-section (1) of section 27;

(e) the manner of sending the order of attachment along with the material to the Special Court under sub-section (2) of section 29;

(f) the manner of transmitting the letter of request under sub-section (2) of section 36;

(g) the form and the time for preparing in each financial year the budget for the next financial year, showing the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Lokpal under section 40;

(h) the form for maintaining the accounts and other relevant records and the form of annual statement of accounts under sub-section (1) of section 42;

(i) the form and manner and the time for preparing the returns and statements along with particulars under section 43;

(j) the form and the time for preparing an annual return giving a summary of its activities during the previous year under sub-section (5) of section 44;

(k) the form of annual return to be filed by a public servant under sub-section (5) of section 44;(l) the minimum value for which the competent authority may condone or exempt a public servant from furnishing information in respect of assets under the proviso to section 45;

(m) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed.

Section 21 of IPC -public servant

CA Satbir Singh — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:57:03 +0000

SECTION 21 OF THE INDIAN PENAL CODE

” Public servant “.

21. The words “public servant” denote a person falling under any of the descriptions hereinafter following, namely:—

First – [***]

Second – Every Commissioned Officer in the Military, Naval or Air Forces of India;

Third – Every Judge including any person empowered by law to discharge, whether by himself or as a member of any body of persons, any adjudicatory functions;

Fourth – Every officer of a Court of Justice (including a liquidator, receiver or Commissioner) whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate, or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order in the Court, and every person specially authorised by a Court of Justice to perform any of such duties;

Fifth – Every juryman, assessor, or member of a panchayat assisting a Court of Justice or public servant;

Sixth – Every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by any Court of Justice, or by any other competent public authority;

Seventh – Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;

Eighth – Every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;

Ninth – Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue-process, or to investigate, or to report, on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government;

Tenth – Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property, to make any survey or assessment or to levy any rate or tax for any secular common purpose of any village, town or district, or to make, authenticate or keep any document for the ascertaining of the rights of the people of any village, town or district;

Eleventh – Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an election;

Twelfth – Every person—

(a)		in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty by the Government;
(b)		in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).

Illustration

A Municipal Commissioner is a public servant.

Explanation 1.—Persons falling under any of the above descriptions are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not.

Explanation 2.—Wherever the words ” public servant ” occur, they shall be understood of every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may be in his right to hold that situation.

Explanation 3.—The word “election” denotes an election for the purpose of selecting members of any legislative, municipal or other public authority, of whatever character, the method of selection to which is by, or under, any law prescribed as by election.

public servant Archives - Tax Heal

Every public servant to declare Assets in prescribed form: Bill in Lok Sabha Introduced

Section 21 of IPC -public servant

” Public servant “.